Paris (AFP)

End of series for Marseille, who benefits in Lille: the fight for the podium and the Champions League tightened on Saturday during the 26th day of Ligue 1, and OM, still 2nd despite their defeat against Nantes (3- 1), saw its lead decrease.

"Our series in the league is coming to an end, it's a shame": Marseille coach André Villas-Boas understood that the dream could not be eternal, after 14 games without a defeat in the league.

OM, despite the return of their playing master Dimitri Payet, struggled against Nantes, and even ended up completely drowning with the goal against their camp of defender Alvaro Gonzalez who came to close the proceedings after a hand fault by Steve Mandanda .

In its Champions League operation, the Marseille club will no doubt prefer to have lost to Nantes, 10th, and won a week earlier in Lille (2-1), than the reverse.

Because the Losc is threatening. Faced with the Toulouse red lantern, hard-pressed from the first seconds and whose end of the season promises to be very complicated, the Lille have offered themselves a quiet evening in front of their audience (3-0), with a double from Loïc Rémy, is living one of its most successful periods (seven goals in 2020 in all competitions!).

Which makes four victories in the last five matches for Christophe Galtier's northerners, a place on the podium (3rd), and 43 points, now nine less than Marseille and six more than Lyon, a slow winner on Friday from Metz in Moselle (2-0).

- Monaco and Montpellier stopped -

Lille is not the only one to gain ground on OM, waiting for the Rennes match (4th, 41 points) against Nîmes on Sunday (5:00 p.m.): Monaco brought back a point from Dijon (1-1) and s is temporarily replaced by two Bretons.

Aligned, the Islam Slimani-Wissam Ben Yedder-Stevan Jovetic trio had long struggled to destabilize the DFCO, and the ASM fell back a bit in their defensive largesse on the goal of Mama Baldé. But Guillermo Maripan ended up finding a way to equalize.

Robert Moreno's men remain blocked in 5th place with 38 points, just ahead of Strasbourg, solid sixth in the championship after their draw against Amiens (0-0), and Montpellier.

The Héraultais (8th, 37 points), like their Monegasque rivals, will be disappointed, after a trip to Angers which could bring them closer to the podium. But they fell in front of Stéphane Bahoken, the attacker concretizing the Angevin domination - the SCO had hit the crossbar twice before! - at the end of the game to finally reassure his troops after four defeats (1-0).

Sunday, Paris SG will also try to reassure themselves against Bordeaux (21:00), after its hectic week between defeat in the Champions League in Dortmund (2-1), internal tensions and videos of a drunken evening having filtered on social networks .

A little earlier, Saint-Etienne, in the midst of a crisis and without his goalkeeper Stéphane Ruffier dismissed by coach Claude Puel, will have the heavy task of extricating himself from his disappointing 17th place, against Reims (15:00).

ama / dep

Results of the 26th day of Ligue 1 football:

Friday

Nice - Brest 2 - 2

Metz - Lyon 0 - 2

Saturday

Marseille - Nantes 1 - 3

Angers - Montpellier 1 - 0

Strasbourg - Amiens 0 - 0

Dijon - Monaco 1 - 1

Lille - Toulouse 3 - 0

Sunday

(2:00 p.m. GMT) Saint-Etienne - Reims

(4:00 p.m.) Rennes - Nîmes

(8 p.m.) Paris SG - Bordeaux

© 2020 AFP