The biggest match in Ligue 1 once again went the way of Paris Saint-Germain as the champions-elect beat bitter rivals Marseille in Le Classique to take another big step toward clinching the title.
Meanwhile, Monaco continued their late charge for a Champions League place with a big win over Rennes.
And at the bottom of the table, St-Etienne took a massive step toward safety with a big win that saw them climb out of the relegation zone.
So read on below as SBOTOP runs down the latest happenings in Ligue 1.
Neymar, Mbappe lead PSG to Le Classique win
Paris-Saint Germain continued their dominance over fierce rivals Marseille as they won Le Classique 2-1 at home.
Neymar had given the Parisians the early lead as he got on the end of a Marco Verratti ball. But Marseille equalised just after the half-hour mark as Duje Caleta-Car punished an error from PSG keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
PSG reestablished their lead at the stroke of half-time as they were awarded a penalty for a Valentin Rongier hand ball. Kylian Mbappe once again came to PSG’s rescue as he stepped up to score the penalty, his league-leading 21st goal of the season.
Mbappe put the ball in the back of the net again in the 75th minute, but the goal was disallowed due to offside.
Then, Marseille thought they had scored a late equaliser through defender William Saliba five minutes from time, but the goal was also ruled out for offside.
The win extended PSG’s lead over second-place Marseille to 15 points with just six games remaining, which means the Parisians can clinch the championship as early as next week.
Monaco keep Champions League hopes alive
Monaco gave their Ligue 1 2022 odds of finishing in third – and claiming the final Champions League spot in France – a huge boost as they beat third-place Rennes in a 3-2 thriller away from home.
Rennes came into the match in fantastic form, winning six of their last seven games. And they took the lead after just three minutes through a Flavien Tait header.
However, Monaco equalised just nine minutes later via Vanderson. Wissam Ben Yedder and Myron Boadu then struck in the second half to give the visitors a commanding two-goal lead.
Rennes staged a late rally and pulled a goal back through a Martin Terrier penalty deep into stoppage time, but it was too little too late.
Monaco coach Philippe Clement was full of praise for his players’ performance in their comeback win as well as in recent weeks.
“It’s not easy to bounce back when you concede an early goal here, but we stayed calm and I’m very proud of my players for that, because we talked about it a lot together in the last weeks. We stayed in the game and that shows that the team is growing,” said Clément.
“We are on a five-game winning streak in the last six games, including one in Marseille, against Paris and here in Rennes. Now, the most important thing will be to remain calm, ambitious and not to be satisfied with that because we still have six finals until the end of the championship.”
The win was sixth-place Monaco’s fourth in a row and leaves them just three points behind Rennes for third spot.
Nice climbed up to fourth as they snapped their recent poor run of Ligue 1 2022 results with a 2-1 home victory against relegation-threatened Lorient. Andy Delort bagged a brace, including the winning goal in the 88th minute, to lead the Eagles alive in the Champions League chase.
Meanwhile, fifth-placed Strasbourg suffered a big setback as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Troyes. The result leaves Le Racing three points adrift of Rennes.
St-Etienne climb out of relegation zone
Relegation-threatened St-Etienne took a massive step toward safety as they beat Brest 2-1 this weekend.
Midfielder Mahdi Camara scored a brace as Les Verts came back from an early deficit to claim just their second win in their last eight games.
The win sent the record 10-time Ligue 1 champions up to 17th, one spot ahead of Clermont Foot for the relegation play-off spot.
St-Etienne have another crucial match coming up next weekend against second-from-bottom Bordeaux, then have back-to-back-to-back games against the Champions League-chasing trio of Monaco, Rennes, and Nice.
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