Lille beat Paris FC with two Giroud goals, move into Champions League spots | OneFootball

Lille, propelled by two goals from veteran striker Olivier Giroud, defeated Paris FC 4-2 this Sunday, closing out the 13th round of Ligue 1 and moving into the qualification zone for the Champions League.

Fifth at the start of the weekend, Lille climbed one spot, reaching fourth place with 23 points, overtaking Strasbourg (5th, 22), who lost 1-0 to Lens on Saturday. Fourth place offers the last Champions League spot in France.

Lille, however, is five points behind second-placed Olympique de Marseille and third-placed Lens, and seven points behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain, who beat Le Havre 3-0 on Saturday.

In Sunday’s victory, Lille came from behind with two goals from Giroud (40′ of the 1st half and 32′ of the 2nd half, from the penalty spot) after Willem Geubbels opened the scoring at 11 minutes for the Parisian side.

Algerian Aïssa Mandi scored Lille’s third goal in the 80th minute, and four minutes later, Lohann Doucet pulled one back for Paris FC, making it 3-2 and adding excitement to the final stretch at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium. In stoppage time, Lille sealed the 4-2 win with another penalty, this time converted by Norwegian Marius Broholm.

Lyon disappoints

Lyon only managed a 0-0 draw with bottom-placed Auxerre away from home, while Nantes escaped the relegation zone by snatching a 1-1 draw in stoppage time against Lorient.

Sunday’s matches did not significantly alter the overall standings of the French championship, with the top positions decided on Saturday.

Lyon, however, had the chance against Auxerre to overtake Strasbourg (4th place, with 22 points) and close the gap to the leaders. But they stumbled against the last-placed team and remain stagnant in the league, now in 6th place with 21 points, seven off the podium.

An Auxerre goal was disallowed and a missed penalty meant the result could have been even worse for Lyon, who saw Auxerre create three clear scoring chances. With this draw, AJA (8 points) stays at the bottom, three points behind Lorient, Nantes, and Metz (11 points).

See other results from the French Championship this Sunday:

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.