Lille frustrated in French league, leads PSG by 1 point

PARIS (AP) — Lille stayed top of the French league but lost ground in its title fight with Paris Saint-Germain after drawing 0-0 at home to Brest on Sunday.

Lille had won its last seven games, conceding only one goal, but another clean sheet will be little consolation to coach Christophe Galtier with defending champion PSG only one point behind.

“We had 14 shots and didn’t hit the target, so their goalie didn’t even make any saves. It’s poor in terms of our attacking,” Galtier said. “We need to show more character, we must push ourselves more in a match like this.”

Galtier introduced attacking midfielder Yusuf Yazici and forward Timothy Weah with an hour played.

But frustration got to Lille’s players as forward Jonathan Bamba was booked in the 75th as he went down in the penalty area.

Nine-man Marseille held on for a 0-0 draw at Bordeaux in the late game.

Ninth-place Marseille had Argentines Leonardo Balerdi and Dario Benedetto sent off within minutes of each other in the second half.

Balerdi pulled back Remi Oudin going through on goal in the 55th. Benedetto got red-carded four minutes later for an awful challenge on former France defender Laurent Koscielny.

Between the red cards, Bordeaux’s South Korea striker Hwang Ui-jo hit the post.

Forward Nicolas de Preville could have won it for Bordeaux right at the end, but he blazed over from close range at full stretch.

Earlier, Lorient continued its remarkable turnaround and ended Monaco’s eight-game winning run with a 2-2 away draw.

Lorient extended its unbeaten streak to five, including a win against PSG.

But Lorient will regret a lapse of concentration that allowed striker Wissam Ben Yedder to snatch an injury-time equalizer for fourth-place Monaco, which travels to play PSG next weekend.

Nigerian striker Terem Moffi put Lorient ahead from the penalty spot after seven minutes. Ben Yedder had a free kick saved late in the half and then equalized from the spot early in the second following a Lorient handball.

Careless defending from Djibril Sidibe then allowed Moffi to sprint through and finish calmly with a low shot inside the post in the 62nd — the 11th goal Monaco has conceded in nine games.

With Lorient clinging on, Monaco launched a cross into the box, the ball was headed down and Ben Yedder volleyed in his 13th goal of the season.

BRIGHT START

Nantes players gave new coach Antoine Kombouare the perfect start with Moses Simon and Imran Louza scoring in the first seven minutes in a 3-1 win at Angers.

Kader Bamba rounded off a fine performance with a late goal to move 18th-place Nantes within one point of Lorient in 17th.

OTHER MATCHES

Things are looking up for Saint-Etienne coach Claude Puel, whose side won 2-0 at fifth-place Rennes for a third win in four games. Striker Denis Bouanga and substitute Arnaud Nordin scored the goals.

Nimes won 2-0 at Dijon to move one place up to 19th and put Dijon bottom instead, and midfielder Adrien Thomasson scored both as Strasbourg won 2-1 at Metz to pull further clearer of relegation trouble.

On Saturday, PSG scraped a 2-1 home win against Nice and Lyon lost 2-1 at home to Montpellier.

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