Second place in the standings, and its direct ticket to the next Champions League, changed hands again, Olympique de Marseille having taken it back from Lens by beating Troyes (3-1), Sunday April 16 at the end of the 31st day of Ligue 1. In the fight to maintain, the finalist of the Coupe de France, Nantes, beaten in Auxerre (2-1) continues to sink with only two points ahead of Strasbourg (17th), winner from Ajaccio (3-1) in a relegation duel.

Far behind Paris SG, winner on Saturday of the clash between the first two against Lens (3-1), the fight is still as tight between three teams for the other two places for the C1. Thanks in particular to the first two goals of their winter rookie Vitinha, and another achievement from Cengiz Under, OM took a step ahead of the Sang et Or (third), and kept three margins over Monaco, winner of Lorient (3-0).

Marseille finally finds the way to victory at the Vélodrome stadium after three draws and two defeats. For the title, however, it is probably over, with PSG eight points better than Marseille, thus heading towards an eleventh crown of champion of France, better than the ten of Saint-Étienne, the previous record holder.

Bad operation of Nantes

In this race for Europe, Lille has recovered the precious fifth place, which sends to the Europa League Conference. Losc overthrew Montpellier (2-1), who were leading, in less than three minutes, and Jonathan David took the opportunity to join Kylian Mbappé at the top of the fireworks standings with a 20th goal. Despite this victory, the “Dogues” had to make an act of contrition with their supporters who reproached them at the end of the match for not having come to greet them at the foot of the stand last weekend during their surprise defeat at Angers (1-0).

Lyon (7th), which dreams of Europe again after its third victory in a row, Friday in Toulouse (2-1), falls back again to five lengths from Lille. In the fight for maintenance too, there is still a place to be taken, but no one wants it. The “Canaries” (16th) carried out a bad operation by allowing themselves to be dominated and overtaken by the Auxerrois (14th).

The last three now seem too far behind to hope to maintain themselves. Condemned for a long time, Angers (20th) lost again, in Clermont (2-1), despite the opener of Adrien Hunou. The SCO is 17 points behind in maintenance, and there are only 21 left to distribute… The Angevins could be relegated to the next day, where they receive PSG on Friday. Troyes (18th) and Ajaccio (19th) are ten points behind Brest, the first non-relegation player, winner of Nice (1-0).

The people of Strasbourg see Nantes in their sights, and the people of Nice, beaten for the second time in a row after a long period of invincibility, probably had their eyes on the European horizon and their quarter-final second leg of C4 against Basel (2- 2 to go), Thursday.