PARIS: Champions Paris St. Germain ended their Ligue 1 campaign with a 2-0 win at Metz on Sunday, while Brest won 3-0 at Toulouse to capture the third Champions League spot and Lille finished fourth after being held 2-2 by Nice who scored a stoppage-time equaliser.

The capital club ended the season with 76 points, nine ahead of AS Monaco in second place. Metz avoided relegation by the slimmest of margins ahead of Lorient and finished in 16th place. Lorient join bottom side Clermont Foot in the drop to Ligue 2.

PSG rested several key players including Kylian Mbappe ahead of the French Cup final on Saturday against Olympique Lyonnais.

They made an excellent start with Carlos Soler breaking the deadlock with a shot from outside the box after seven minutes, while Lee Kang-in doubled the lead five minutes later.

Metz had their chances late in the match and went close on several occasions and will now play in the relegation playoff.

Brest’s Kenny Lala scored a late goal after efforts from Madi Camara and Jordan Amavi to earn victory at Toulouse, with the club ending the campaign in third place with 61 points.

Lille dropped to fourth on 59 points and must go through the Champions League third qualifying round after Nice’s Jordan Lotomba equalised in stoppage time to snatch a draw for the fifth-placed side already assured of a Europa League spot.

Lyon’s Alexandre Lacazette scored twice to earn his side a 2-1 win against Strasbourg as they moved up to sixth and qualified for the Europa League ahead of Lens, who drew 2-2 at home to Montpellier and will play in the Conference League.

Monaco, with their Champions League return secured, thrashed visitors Nantes 4-0 as Wissam Ben Yedder, Thilo Kehrer and Mohamed Camara, with a penalty, scored in the first half while Eliesse Ben Seghir completed the rout after the break.

Lorient’s 5-0 win over Clermont meant they ended level with Metz on points and goal difference, but the Brittany club go straight down to Ligue 2, while Metz will get a second chance to survive in a play-off against a side from the second tier.

In other games, Olympique de Marseille missed out on a European place despite a 2-1 win at Le Havre, and Reims defeated Rennes 2-1.

Final standings

(Tabulated under teams, played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):

Paris St-Germain 34 22 10 2 81 33 76

AS Monaco 34 20 7 7 68 42 67

Stade Brestois 34 17 10 7 53 34 61

Lille 34 16 11 7 52 34 59

OGC Nice 34 15 10 9 40 29 55

Olympique Lyonnais 34 16 5 13 49 55 53

RC Lens 34 14 9 11 45 37 51

Olympique de Marseille 34 13 11 10 52 41 50

Reims 34 13 8 13 42 47 47

Rennes 34 12 10 12 53 46 46

Toulouse 34 11 10 13 42 46 43

Montpellier 34 10 12 12 43 48 41

Strasbourg 34 10 9 15 38 50 39

Nantes 34 9 6 19 30 55 33

Le Havre 34 7 11 16 34 45 32

Metz 34 8 5 21 35 58 29

Lorient 34 7 8 19 43 66 29

Clermont Foot 34 5 10 19 26 60 25

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2024