PARIS ( Associated Press) — Chilean forward Alexis Sanchez scored a goal and an assist as Olympique de Marseille beat bottom-placed Angers 3-1 at home on Sunday to keep the pressure on Lens in their bid for second place in the French league. beat by 1.
Marseille had to sail against the current at the Stade Velodrome when Senegal’s Abdallah Sima put Angers ahead in the 28th minute.
But Sanchez led the response by scoring a 1–1 equalizer on 34 minutes. “Nino Maravilla” appeared alone in the area to connect the ball with his right foot after Jonathan Kloss’s cross.
Igor Tudor’s team woke up after that and dominated the match against an opponent already doomed to relegation.
Sánchez set up Dimit Payet for the second goal in the 48th minute, placing a cross which the French midfielder had to push past the far post.
Jordan Verrout kicked a penalty on 77 to keep the final figures.
Marseille trailed Lens by two points with three rounds remaining. Second in Ligue 1 will get a direct pass to the Champions League group stage, while third will have to play the previous stage. Marseille is almost there, as it holds an eight-point gap on fourth-place Monaco.
Lacazette Criminal Waste
This time, Alexandre Lacazette failed to take a penalty in stoppage time and his Lyon lost 2–1 at Clermont to fall behind in the battle for European places.
A penalty taken by Lacazette in the agony of extra time last weekend sealed a 5–4 victory against Montpellier, and thus sealed a run of goals.
Lacazette scored in the 22nd minute to give Lyon their 25th win of the season.
But the lead only lasted three minutes, thanks to a penalty goal from Greyjon Kaye. The same striker gave Clermont the lead after 65 minutes.
Lyon had an equalizer when a penalty was awarded after a lengthy VAR query. Lacazette finished low without force and was saved by goalkeeper Mauri Diaw.
Lacazette continues to top the Ligue 1 goalscoring table, just behind Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe.
Lyon are in 11th place with three days to go, one walk away from fifth which gives them a ticket to the Europa Conference League.
Rainbow
Teams wore rainbow-colored numbers on their jerseys this weekend to support the fight against homophobia.
But Toulouse striker Zakaria Aboukhlal was left out of the squad in a 0-0 draw against Nantes after refusing to put on the shirt. The player defended his decision on Twitter, citing “personal beliefs”.
Other results
Monaco drew 0–0 with fifth-placed Lille, leading them in the table by five points. It also takes six points from Rennes, which beat Troyes 4-0.
Along with Ajaccio and Angers, Troyes became the third team to be relegated. There is one more missing who will lose the category.
Auxerre moved one point ahead of Nantes in 16th place after losing 1–0 at Brest. Montpellier drew 1–1 at home with Lorient.
PSG edged closer to a record 11th French league title with a 5-0 thrashing of Ajaccio on Saturday.
