(Reuters) -Olympique Lyonnais beat second-placed Olympique de Marseille 3-0 in an entertaining Ligue 1 conflict on Sunday, stopping Jorge Sampaoli’s facet from tightening their grip on an automated Champions League spot.
Castello Lukeba, Moussa Dembele and Karl Toko Ekambi scored a purpose every to complicate Marseille’s return to Champions League motion subsequent season, narrowing their benefit over each third-placed Rennes and fourth-placed Monaco to 3 factors.
Poland worldwide Arkadiusz Milik ought to have put the house facet forward within the tenth minute after he obtained an extended go contained in the field, however his effort was blocked by the Lyon defence.
Another golden probability arrived for Marseille simply earlier than halftime however the excellent cross despatched by Gerson was adopted by Milik’s horrible miss from contained in the six-yard field.
Lyon took benefit of the hosts’ wasted alternatives to open the scoring within the fifty fifth minute when a close-range shot by Dembele was blocked by Marseille goalkeeper Pau Lopez however Lukeba’s follow-up strike ended up within the backside left nook.
The guests doubled their lead 20 minutes later when Dembele nodded house a exact cross from defender Malo Gusto, scoring his seventeenth league purpose of the season.
Karl Toko Ekambi added the third purpose for the guests simply earlier than the ultimate whistle, netting from the nook of the six-yard field.
Marseille held on to second place within the league, with 65 factors, however Rennes and Monaco, who each loved 2-0 weekend wins — over St Etienne and Angers respectively — are actually three factors behind. PSG, on 79, have already clinched the title.
The high two groups will qualify straight for the Champions League group stage whereas the third-placed facet will play within the third qualifying spherical.
Lyon, seventh within the league and undefeated in 16 of their final 17 matches in opposition to Marseille in all competitions, boosted their hopes of qualifying for European soccer as they’re now 5 factors away from the Europa Conference League spot.
With three video games left to play, they’ll subsequent journey to bottom-placed Metz on Sunday.
Marseille will go to Lorient afterward the identical day, three days after internet hosting Feyenoord within the second leg of their Conference League semi-final after they hope to overturn a 3-2 away loss and qualify for the ultimate.
(Reporting by Anita Kobylinska in Gdansk; modifying by Clare Fallon)
