PARIS: Canada forward Jonathan David scored a last-gasp double as Lille beat Olympique de Marseille 2-0 to stay top of Ligue 1 on Wednesday.
David netted in the 90th minute and again two minutes into injury time. The northern side remain two points ahead of defending champion Paris St Germain, who won 1-0 away to Girondins de Bordeaux, in an extremely tight title race.
Third-placed Olympique Lyonnais, 1-0 winners against Stade Rennais earlier on Wednesday, are one point adrift of PSG. Monaco stayed fourth on 55 points, seven points off the pace, after suffering a late 1-0 defeat at Racing Strasbourg, their first in their last 13 league matches.
RC Lens beat St Etienne 3-2 away to stay fifth while sixth-place Metz slipped to a 1-0 home defeat to Angers.
Stade Brestois beat last-placed Dijon 3-1 at home and Nice moved into mid-table by downing struggling Nimes 2-1. Nantes’ miserable season continued with a 2-1 loss at home to Reims. The Canaries remain second from bottom and are now three points from guaranteed safety after Lorient’s 1-1 draw at Montpellier.
Lille appeared on course for their third draw in four games but David saved the day as he tapped home in the last minute after Steve Mandanda parried Jonathan Ikone’s shot into his path and he struck again two minutes into stoppage time.
Pablo Sarabia made up for PSG’s lack of firepower as he scored in the 20th minute by whipping a left-footed effort past Benoit Costil after collecting an Idrissa Gueye cross in the area.
PSG were missing Kylian Mbappe through suspension and was without the injured Neymar, while Moise Kean was ruled out after testing positive for Covid-19.
Houssem Aouar’s 73rd-minute strike clinched Lyon a home win over Rennes.
A fourth straight league defeat for Rennes, who played in this season’s Champions League, leaves them 10th in the table and six points off the European places.
Monaco’s title aspirations suffered a blow as Strasbourg defender Frederic Guilbert snatched a dramatic winner in the 91st minute to pull his side eight points clear of the bottom three.
Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2021
