PARIS: Lille missed the chance to close the yawning gap between them and Paris St Germain after needing an injury-time penalty from Nicolas Pepe to snatch a 1-1 Ligue 1 draw at home to mid-table Reims.

Only four of the 10 Ligue 1 matches scheduled for this weekend took place, with the other six postponed due to protests against increases in fuel tax and rising living costs.

Saturday’s match between league leaders PSG and third-place Montpellier was one of the casualties.

That opened the way for second-place Lille to put some distance between themselves and the teams behind them but it took a penalty from Pepe, his sixth from the spot this season, to get them a point.

Remi Oudin put the visitors ahead 19 minutes into the second half when he scored from close range after good work by Alaixys Romao on the left.

But Pepe got his 11th goal of the season deep into injury time to level the score, leaving Christophe Galtier’s side 13 points behind runaway leaders PSG.

Earlier on Sunday, Strasbourg were held 2-2 at home by struggling Caen days after holding PSG to a draw. The result lifted Strasbourg into eighth, while Caen, who have not won in 10 league games, moved a point clear of second-from-bottom club Monaco.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2018