NICE: Lille passed up the opportunity to go into the top three in Ligue 1 after a 96th-minute equaliser by Nice held them to a 2-2 draw on Sunday, while Olympique Lyonnais downed historic rivals St Etienne.

Tom Louchet slotted home deep in injury time to deny the visitors a win that would have taken them above Olympique de Marseille and into the automatic Champions League qualification spots.

Lille led twice in the match but were pegged back on both occasions by Nice, who now have five draws in their 11 league outings and are yet to lose at home this season.

Alexandre Lacazette scored the only goal as Lyon won “Le Derby” 1-0 against St Etienne, who have struggled on their return to the top flight after winning promotion via the play-off last term and stay 16th on 10 points.

Lyon’s fifth win of the season moves them up to fifth place, one point ahead of Nice.

Elsewhere, Reims joined Nice on 17 points with a 3-0 victory at 17th-placed Le Havre.

Oumar Diakite and Keito Nakamura scored inside six first-half minutes and Junya Ito added a third in the 57th minute.

Bottom-of-the-table Montpellier got a much-needed 3-1 win at home to Brest, who have struggled to recreate their excellent Champions League form domestically.

Toulouse moved up to 10th with a 2-0 win at Rennes who said they were close to appointing Jorge Sampaoli as coach, with the former Argentina and Chile boss watching from the stands.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2024