Alexandre Lacazette scored a hat-trick as Lyon defeated rivals Nice 4-1 on Sunday, while Mason Greenwood’s penalty in the 89th minute gave Marseille a 2-1 victory against Monaco and moved them into second position in Ligue 1. Lille had earlier lost a late equalizer to bottom-place Montpellier, squandering the chance to move provisionally into third place in Ligue 1. It was the opportunity for the teams in second and third position to get closer to the top after leaders Paris Saint-Germain drew on Saturday.
And Marseille took advantage of that opportunity. With their narrow victory, they moved up to second position on goal differential, seven points behind PSG, and ahead of Monaco.
Four minutes prior to halftime, Monaco’s breakthrough goal came via a deflected finish by Aleksandr Golovin.
But Luis Henrique of Marseille responded in the 53rd minute.
Neal Maupay responded swiftly to tip a half-blocked cross across the goalmouth, where the Brazilian was there to head in his sixth goal of the season. The cross had looked to be going behind but had turned on the line to remain in at the near post.
The referee’s decision that Monaco’s Christian Mawissa had used his hand to stop a cross in the 87th minute was the turning point.
Roberto De Zerbi’s team won the comeback game after Greenwood duly sent the goalie the wrong way.
Lacazette gave the home team the icing on the cake with a penalty kick in the 69th minute after scoring twice in the first half in Lyon.
Jordan Veretout and Lacazette scored to give Nice a two-goal lead at the half after Sofiane Diop had tied the score halfway through the first period.
Lyon now has 22 points, one more than Lille in fourth position and two more than Nice in sixth.
At full stretch, Lacazette poked in a cross to give his team the lead at four minutes.
Diop performed well to collect Mohamed-Ali Cho’s back-post cross in the 22nd minute, resulting in a nice comeback.
After Lyon’s advantage was restored by goals from Lacazette and Veretout in the 41st and 43rd minutes, the former Arsenal attacker secured the victory with a second-half penalty kick.
Lacazette remarked, “This victory is good for us and rounds off a great week,” following Lyon’s Europa League triumph over Azeri team Qarabag on Thursday by the same score.
Read More: Dreams Turn Into Reality As Zawar Breathes New Life Into India Grassroots Football
