Marseille loses 3-1 to Nice, Monaco wins to keep pressure on

Secondplace Marseille saw its unbeaten run end as it lost 31 at home to Nice to slip eight points behind French league leader Paris SaintGermainMarseilles first league defeat in 10 games means it is only ahead of thirdplace Lens on goal difference with inform Monaco now two points back in fourth spotThird place secures a place in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League next seasonMarseille fans got a first look at clubrecord signing Vitinha a forward who joined from Portuguese side Braga for 32 million euros 345 million Terem Moffi made his debut for eighthplace Nice after joining from Lorient where he scored 12 goals this seasonNeither made much of an impression in a first half where Nices superior pressing game troubled Marseille and prevented it from getting the ball regularly to playmaker Dimitri PayetVitinhas lack of familiarity with his teammates and the 35yearold Payets tiring legs played into Nices highoctane game and the visitors scored twice at the end of the first halfStriker Gaeumltan Labordes shot was saved by goalkeeper Pau Lopez but forward Sofiane Diop followed up to head in off the post in the 38th minute Nices second goal in the 44th was similar as Lopez pushed away a shot from midfielder Khephren Thuram and this time Laborde followed upMarseille coach Igor Tudor replaced Vitinha and Payet with Ruslan Malinovskyi and Alexis Sanchez coming on for the second half Malinovskyi pulled one back in the 60th with his first goal for the club turning in a cross from left back Jonathan ClaussAlso readMbappe to miss first leg of Champions League Last16 tieBut Algeria forward Billal Brahimi scored his first goal for Nice in the 86th with a fine curling shotMeanwhile Monaco extended its unbeaten run to seven matches with a 20 win at ClermontEarly goals from central defender Guillermo Maripan and striker Breel Embolo allowed Monaco to control the game Coach Philippe Clements side is in good form heading into next Saturdays home game against PSGMaripan used his aerial ability to head in from Caio Henriques cross in the third minute Ten minutes later Japan forward Takumi Minamino won the ball and fed Russia midfielder Aleksandr Golovin whose pinpoint cross was headed in by EmboloLens managed only a 11 draw at Brest Defender Jonathan Gradit equalized from close range in the 83rd for Lens after Brest goalkeeper Marco Bizot miskicked the ball following a corner Striker Jeacutereacutemy Le Douaron put Brest ahead in the 54th when he slid to meet Pierre LeesMelous low cross to the back postStrasbourg beat Montpellier 20 at home to go 17th as it tries to move out of the relegation zone with striker Habib Diallo scoring both goals Diallo netted after just 13 seconds from Dimitri Lieacutenards cross and grabbed his second on the stroke of halftime with the home side down to 10 men after JeanEudes Aholous red card in the 33rdNantes won 20 at Corsican side Ajaccio with secondhalf goals from forward Evann Guessand and midfielder Ludovic BlasRockbottom Angers finally snapped its 13game losing streak a French league record but could only draw 00 at LorientEnglish striker Folarin Balogun failed to add to his leagueleading 14 goals but Reims extended its unbeaten run to 14 games with a 00 draw at 19thplace Auxerre which had lost its seven previous games and kept a rare clean sheetOn Saturday Lionel Messis secondhalf strike helped a lackluster PSG beat Toulouse 21This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever