PARIS (AP) — Brest coped with having a player sent off in the second half to beat Marseille 1-0 and move up to second place in the French league on Sunday.
Veteran midfielder Pierre Lees-Melou scored in the 88th minute as Brest moved above Nice into second spot, 13 points behind league leader Paris Saint-Germain.
Brest has never finished higher than eighth in its history and, despite one of the smallest budgets in the league, coach Eric Roy’s players remain on course to qualify for the Champions League for the first time with 12 rounds of games remaining.
Roy’s team was on the back foot after striker Steve Mounié was shown a straight red card in the 60th minute for elbowing defender Leonardo Balerdi in the chest.
Marseille failed to take advantage, and the visitors botched a routine throw-in. Lees-Melou won the ball and dribbled into the penalty area before shooting through goalkeeper Ruben Blanco’s legs.
Prior to that, Marseille had Blanco to thank for going into the break level at 0-0 after he made two fine saves.
Coach Gennaro Gattusso’s Marseille offered little in attack despite having an extra player and saw its winless run extend to seven matches in all competitions. Marseille is ninth and the pressure could be mounting on Gattusso.
Monaco dropped to fifth place after losing 2-1 at home to struggling Toulouse.
Monaco fell behind to Toulouse captain Vincent Sierro’s 30-meter free kick from the right shortly before halftime at Stade Louis II.
Maghnes Akliouche equalized moments after the break after a fluffed clearance by the Toulouse defense, only for central defender Logan Costa to put the visitors ahead again in the 70th following a corner.
OTHER MATCHES
Sixth-place Lens needed an equalizer from striker Wesley Said to earn a 1-1 draw at Reims.
Forward Martin Terrier continued his good form with two goals as seventh-place Rennes beat last-place Clermont 3-1 at home.
Striker Mohamed Bamba also grabbed two as struggling Lorient picked up a valuable 3-1 win at Strasbourg.
Silky playmaker Téji Savanier was among Montpellier’s scorers in a 3-0 home win against next-to-last Metz.
On Saturday, Kylian Mbappé came off the bench to score as PSG won 2-0 at Nantes.
The star striker informed PSG earlier this week that he is leaving at the end of the season.
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