PARIS: Olympique de Marseille’s Florian Thauvin and Konstantinos Mitroglou both scored twice as they hammered Lille 5-1 at the Stade Velodrome on Saturday to stay in the hunt for France’s third Champions League qualification place.

Second-placed Monaco crashed to a 3-1 defeat away to Guingamp after Monaco defender Jemerson was sent off early in the first half for handling the ball on the line.

Marseille’s win put them level on 69 points with third-placed Olympique Lyonnais, who beat Dijon 5-2 on Friday and are ahead of Marseille on goal difference, while Monaco are on 70.

Marseille also have the Europa League and play the first leg of their semi-final at home to Austrian side Salzburg next Thursday. But Monaco and Lyon have only Ligue 1 to think about.

Still, Marseille are also brimming with confidence these days, especially winger Thauvin.

He headed Marseille ahead from a Bouna Sarr cross on 12 minutes and then struck again — his 19th goal of the campaign — from the penalty spot after Dimitri Payet was fouled in the area by Hamza Mendyl.

Mitroglou made it 3-0 to Marseille on 35 minutes with a thumping header from Jordan Amavi’s ball in from the left, and the Greek striker promptly hooked in the home side’s fourth following an assist from Lucas Ocampos.

Lille playmaker Yassine Benzia reduced the deficit by drilling a low left-foot shot into the net in the 54th minute, but winger Ocampos made it 5-1 with a powerful strike 14 minutes later.

That result, coupled with Toulouse’s 2-0 win at home over Angers, leaves struggling Lille second from bottom on 29 points, four points adrift of the safety zone.

Deposed champions Monaco travelled to Guingamp anxious to draw a line under last weekend’s humiliating 7-1 thrashing by champions Paris St Germain, but any chance of that went out the window when Jemerson was given a straight red for stopping a shot with his hand with Jimmy Briand converting the ensuing penalty.

Etienne Didot doubled the hosts lead after the half hour and Marcus Thuram put the game beyond reach two minutes after the restart to ensure Monaco’s battle for second place would go down to the wire.

Defender Almamy Toure replied in vain with a consolation goal midway through the second half.

Elsewhere, Amiens coasted to a 3-1 win over Strasbourg, while Caen defender Damien Da Silva’s own goal was cancelled out by a Jessy Deminguet strike as they drew 1-1 with Metz.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2018