Marseille secures 2nd place after Saint-Etienne collapses

PARIS (AP) — Marseille consolidated second place in the French league by rallying past relegation-threatened Saint-Etienne 4-2 in a game full of blunders on Sunday.

Gabon striker Denis Bouanga gave Saint-Etienne the lead in the ninth minute by shooting past goalkeeper Pau Lopez, who made an embarrassing handling mistake.

But Saint-Etienne self-destructed by conceding two penalties and scoring an own goal.

Marseille midfielder Dimitri Payet equalized with a penalty on the stroke of halftime after Eliaquim Mangala held Duje Caleta-Car on a corner. The visitors took the lead in the 60th when Saint-Etienne wing back Timothee Kolodziejczak kicked a clearance into his own net.

Marseille striker Bamba Dieng then converted a penalty in the 68th after Arnaud Nordin’s foul on Gerson. Amine Harit made it 4-1 with a diagonal shot off the post in the 73rd.

Saint-Etienne midfielder Lucas Gourna pulled one back with a long-range strike in the 86th.

Marseille won a third straight league game to open up a three-point gap on third-placed Rennes, while Saint-Etienne remained in the relegation zone, one point from safety.

Marseille supporters were banned from attending the game by the Loire prefecture over fears of crowd trouble.

Strasbourg emerged as a surprise contender in the race for European spots after edging Lens 1-0 to climb up to fourth place.

Ludovic Ajorque converted a penalty in the 67th minute that was given after Frederic Guilbert’s cross hit the arm of Lens wingback Przemyslaw Frankowski.

Strasbourg stretched its unbeaten run to eight games with the victory to go level on points with Nice and just two points behind Rennes. The team’s best finish in the past 20 seasons was 10th in 2020.

Monaco edged lowly Metz 2-1 to move into sixth place, four points behind Nice. Dutch forward Myron Boadu scored the winner with a diving header in the 72nd while France international Wissam Ben Yedder consolidated his spot as the league top scorer by notching his 18th goal in the 46th.

Randal Kolo Muani converted a cross in the 67th to give Nantes a 3-2 win over struggling Clermont, which suffered a fourth straight loss.

Uruguayan striker Martin Satriano in the 69th and Franck Honorat in the 79th scored for Brest in a 2-1 win at mid-table Montpellier.

Troyes beat Reims 1-0 to move away from the relegation zone as Renaud Ripart came off the bench to net in injury time.

The 30th round ended late Sunday with Paris Saint-Germain vs. Lorient, and Lyon vs. Angers.

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