Monaco grabs point at Marseille, Bordeaux stun Lyon

Fabinho struck to secure French champions Monaco an entertaining 2-2 draw at southern rivals Marseille on Sunday, while Malcom was at the centre of a penalty controversy as Bordeaux stunned Lyon. Both teams at the Stade Velodrome missed the chance to take second place from Lyon, with Paris Saint-Germain now 11 points clear at the Ligue 1 summit. Keita Balde gave the visitors a fourth-minute lead, but Marseille centre-back Adil Rami quickly levelled with a close-range header.

Marseille's run of 6⃣ wins ends with a 2-2 draw against Monaco - as OM spurn the chance to go second in Ligue 1.#UEL pic.twitter.com/SmQtnREUg2

— UEFA Europa League (@EuropaLeague) January 28, 2018

The hosts moved in front shortly after half-time as Valere Germain headed in against his former club. But Fabinho waltzed through the hapless home defence to equalise for Monaco, denying Marseille a seventh straight win in all competitions and extending his team's unbeaten league run to eight matches. "Fabinho played a big match today, not only for the goal but for his defensive quality and ability to break the line," said Monaco coach Leonardo Jardim.

#Fabinho waltzed through the hapless home defence to equalise for #Monaco, denying #Marseille a 7th straight win in all competitions and extending his team's unbeaten league run to eight matches#Ligue1https://t.co/b4zk0tFPV6

— FirstpostSports (@FirstpostSports) January 29, 2018

The chase for the Champions League places remains wide open in France, with Lyon, Marseille and Monaco separated by just one point in the hunt for the second and third spots behind PSG. "One point each was fair. In the war for second place there are no easy games, and it will continue like this until May," Jardim added. Senegal striker Balde, a close-season signing from Lazio, pounced on a loose ball to race clear and clip home his sixth league goal for Monaco and give them the perfect start.

#L1Wk23 reactions UPDATE: @ValereGermain, @fabioalves_3 both left with mixed feelings after thrilling 2-2 draw between @OM_English, @AS_Monaco_EN: https://t.co/0j5SzDsdwq pic.twitter.com/D4mL1HgIpE

— Ligue1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) January 29, 2018

But the lead lasted less than three minutes, as Monaco shot themselves in the foot. A low cross from Valere Germain caused havoc and Florian Thauvin put pressure on right-back Almamy Toure, who saw his clearance deflected straight into the air for Rami to nod in his first league goal for Marseille. The game settled down after its frenetic start, but Rudi Garcia's hosts should have forged ahead in the 27th minute when Dimitri Payet blazed over with the goal at his mercy.

Should @SteveMandanda be #France's Number 1️⃣ goalkeeper?@OM_English#OMASM pic.twitter.com/pjgxqbM7hS

— Ligue1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) January 28, 2018

Marseille completed the turnaround in the 47th minute, as Payet whipped in a free-kick and Germain stooped to send a diving header past away goalkeeper Danijel Subasic. It was the 27-year-old's 12th goal for OM since joining from Monaco last July. The champions hit back four minutes later, though, as Brazilian midfielder Fabinho strolled straight through the middle of the Marseille backline and slotted the ball in off the post. Monaco thought they had retaken the lead, but Jemerson's header was ruled out by the linesman's flag, despite the defender not being one of two visiting players in an offside position when Rachid Ghezzal swung in a free-kick.

.@keitabalde14 and @AS_Monaco_EN could be forgiven for feeling confident ahead of their #Marseille test...#OMASM pic.twitter.com/QNHG0Oa7Fa

— Ligue1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) January 28, 2018

Both sides had chances to snatch all three points, with Marseille keeper Steve Mandanda denying Ghezzal and Germain volleying agonisingly wide, but neither could find the winner they needed to go second. Brazilian star Malcom appeared to dive for a crucial penalty as 10-man Bordeaux upset high-flying Lyon 3-1 to give new coach Gustavo Poyet a winning start in Ligue 1. Malcom, the 50 million-euro ($62m, £44m) rated winger who has been linked with Arsenal, also scored the 27th-minute penalty to give Bordeaux a shock 2-0 lead. Poyet had already seen Nicolas De Preville put the home side in front in south-western France, with Gaetan Laborde scoring another penalty for the hosts after Marcelo had pulled one back for Lyon.

??? Check out the official match highlights from all the #L1Wk23 action incl. huge nights for @ECavaniOfficial, @girondins, @ValereGermain and @FCNantes ???https://t.co/AgooR9btd4 pic.twitter.com/OGPmlzhA36

— Ligue1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) January 29, 2018

Bordeaux had another Brazilian, Otavio, sent off after the break but they held on to make it two wins from two games since previous coach Jocelyn Gourvennec was sacked. The result was a big blow to Lyon, who had beaten PSG at home last weekend and then won at Monaco in the French Cup on Wednesday. PSG beat Montpellier 4-0 on Saturday, with Neymar scoring twice and Angel Di Maria also on target after Edinson Cavani got the opener to take him to a club record 157 goals in all competitions.

??? @ECavaniOfficial hit a new high for @PSG_English as he became the club's all-time top scorer on Saturday. Check out all 21 of the #Ligue1Conforama top scorer's goals so far from season 2017-18 ???https://t.co/Bc3azgTG0K pic.twitter.com/qmFMP70pUs

— Ligue1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) January 29, 2018

RESULTS: Lille 2 (El Ghazi 76, Ie 90+1) Strasbourg 1 (Saadi 78) Bordeaux 3 (De Preville 22, Malcom 27-pen, Laborde 45+2-pen) Lyon 1 (Marcelo 44) Marseille 2 (Rami 7, Germain 47) Monaco 2 (Balde 4, Fabinho 51) Ligue 1 table ahead of Sunday's late match (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): PSG             23 19  2  2 72 17 59 Lyon            23 14  6  3 52 25 48 Marseille       23 14  6  3 47 24 48 Monaco          23 14  5  4 53 24 47 Nantes          23 11  4  8 22 21 37 Nice            23 10  4  9 29 33 34 Montpellier     23  7 10  6 20 19 31 Rennes          23  9  4 10 28 32 31 Bordeaux        23  8  5 10 27 32 29 Guingamp        23  8  5 10 24 32 29 Dijon           23  8  4 11 33 46 28 Strasbourg      23  7  6 10 28 39 27 Caen            23  8  3 12 15 26 27 Saint-Etienne   23  7  5 11 22 38 26 Amiens          23  7  4 12 20 25 25 Angers          23  5 10  8 26 32 25 Lille           23  7  4 12 21 34 25 Troyes          23  7  3 13 22 32 24 Toulouse        23  6  5 12 21 32 23 Metz            23  5  3 15 20 39 18