In Ligue 1 football news, 10-man Lille held on to a 1-1 draw at Marseille, in an away match yesterday. Hosts Marseille thus missed the chance to re-join Nice in second place in Ligue 1.
The result left Marseille, who have a game in hand, in third place on 37 points from 20 games. They are now just two points behind Nice, though, but alarmingly, 13 points adrift of leaders Paris St Germain.
Meanwhile, last season’s Ligue 1 trophy winners Lille are poor title-defenders now, 10th with 29 points, also after 20 matches.
Cengiz Under salvaged a point for Marseille as he cancelled out Sven Botman’s opener for the French champions. But Jorge Sampaoli’s side failed to make the most of their numerical advantage following Benjamin Andre’s 32nd-minute sending off.
Ligue 1 Football News – 10-man Lille Held on to a 1-1 Draw at Marseille
Lille went ahead, 15 minutes in at the Stade Velodrome, when Botman headed home after evading his marker, William Saliba.
Saliba erred again seven minutes later as he allowed Burak Yilmaz to attempt another header which Pau Lopez brilliantly saved.
Ivo Grbic then stretched to parry Dimitri Payet’s curled free kick as Marseille finally found their stride. As a direct result, they increased the pressure.
On the other hand, Andre picked up a second yellow card to leave the visitors down to 10 men.
But Lille stood firm and thought they had doubled their advantage early in the second half. But they suffered a ruling against Jonathan Bamba’s effort as Yilmaz was in an offside position then.
Marseille eventually got their equaliser 15 minutes from time as Under curled a fine shot into the net from Payet’s corner.
