Monaco inflict misery on Marseille

By Chris Burke

AS Monaco FC resisted intense second-half pressure from Olympique de Marseille to win 2-1 at the Stade Louis II and move into third spot in Ligue 1, effectively ending second-placed Marseille's title hopes.

Maicon header
The visitors suffered an early setback when experienced centre-back Frédéric Déhu limped off injured and his aerial presence was sorely missed when, on 24 minutes, Monaco right-back Maicon rose to head in Benoît Pedretti's miskicked clearance. Three minutes before the break, Didier Deschamps's side raced into a two-goal lead thanks to Emmanuel Adebayor, who collected Ernesto Chevantόn's lobbed pass to beat Fabien Barthez with a stinging shot.

Marseille reaction
Marseille pushed forward after the break in an attempt to pull themselves back into the game and were rewarded when Lucas Bernardi knocked Abdoulaye Méïté's header into his own net ten minutes after the restart. Philippe Troussier's men battled hard for an equaliser while at the other end Barthez saved a late Shabani Nonda penalty to keep Marseille in the hunt, but the home side rode out the final minutes to leave leaders Olympique Lyonnais eleven points clear at the summit and seemingly out of reach.

Lille draw
For Monaco, the victory lifts them back into the UEFA Champions League qualification places ahead of LOSC Lille Métropole, who could only manage a goalless draw away to AS Saint-Etienne earlier in the evening. Rafaël Schmitz had a goal disallowed for Lille in a match the northern side dominated, but they have now gone eight league matches without a win.

Pauleta strike
In the day's other encounter, Portuguese striker Pauleta struck his 12th goal this season to give mid-table Paris Saint-Germain FC a morale-boosting success at home to AJ Auxerre. The UEFA Cup quarter-finalists none the less remained fifth on goal difference ahead of Toulouse FC, despite having taken just two points from their last six games.