PARIS: Gaetan Laborde scored one goal and played a key role in another as Nice defeated Olympique de Marseille 3-1 in Ligue 1 on Sunday to leave Paris St Germain eight points clear at the top.
Marseille had been the form team in France since the World Cup, but a first loss in 10 league games dealt a heavy blow to their hopes of catching bitter rivals PSG.
Sofiane Diop headed Nice ahead at the Velodrome and Laborde doubled the advantage before half-time. Ruslan Malinovskyi’s goal gave Marseille hope, but a superb late strike Billal Brahimi secured a fourth win in five outings for Nice under interim coach Didier Digard.
Marseille stayed second on 46 points from 22 games and RC Lens are third, behind Marseille on goal difference, after a 1-1 draw at Stade Brestois, their third consecutive game without a win.
Jeremy Le Douaron turned home a low cross to give Brest the lead early in the second half but Jonathan Gradit rescued Lens after goalkeeper Marco Bizot failed to deal with a corner in the 82nd minute as Franck Haise’s side came within a whisker of suffering back-to-back league defeats for the first time this season.
Fourth-placed Monaco won 2-0 at Clermont with goals from Guillermo Maripan and Breel Embolo to move to 44 points as Nantes won away to Ajaccio by the same scoreline.
Reims extended their unbeaten league run to 14 games after a 0-0 draw at lowly Auxerre, while 10-man Strasbourg beat Montpellier 2-0 for their first home win of the season.
Angers finally halted their French top-flight record run of 13 straight losses by drawing 0-0 at Lorient, earning a first point since September.
Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2023
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