■FRANCE
Marseille extend lead
Two deflected efforts by Mamadou Niang helped Olympique Marseille draw 2-2 with Toulouse to extend their Ligue 1 lead to three points on Saturday. The league’s top scorer Andre-Pierre Gignac took his tally this season to 21 goals by twice putting visitors Toulouse ahead after the interval. Marseille have 68 points with four games left, three ahead of second-placed Girondins Bordeaux. Olympique Lyon’s hopes of an eighth successive crown all but vanished when a double strike by Johan Audel led Valenciennes to a 2-0 home win over the champions. “It is over for the title,” Lyon defender Cris told Foot Plus channel. “We were rubbish today.” Third-placed Lyon have 61 points while Toulouse are fifth on 58. Caen climbed to 16th with a 3-1 home victory over Le Mans while St Etienne slipped to second from bottom after a 0-0 draw with Nancy.
■PORTUGAL
Sporting slip up
Sporting could only draw 0-0 against Academica on Saturday to give FC Porto an opportunity to take a big step toward their fourth straight title. Sporting are three points behind Porto, who lead with 60 points. Benfica’s third place was under threat following a 3-1 defeat at fourth-place Nacional. Nene and Ruben Micael put Nacional 2-0 up by the 64th minute before Jose Antonio Reyes replied for Benfica four minutes later. But Miguel Fidalgo ended it with an injury-time goal that lifted Nacional to 49 points, only three back of Benfica.
■AFRICA
Al Ahli suffer shock exit
Holders Al Ahli of Egypt were knocked out of the African Champions League on Saturday, beaten on away goals by Nigerians Kano Pillars. Nigeria’s other representatives, Heartland FC, overcame last year’s runners-up Coton Sport of Cameroon in another upset. Al Ahli were expected to advance after a 1-1 away draw in the first leg of their third round tie but a 2-2 result in the return match in Cairo put paid to their hopes. Coton Sport, trailing 2-1 from the first leg against Heartland, went out after a 1-1 draw in Garoua.
■LIBERTADORES CUP
LA lined up for matches
Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles is shaping up as a possible venue for Libertadores Cup matches involving Mexican clubs that have been jeopardized by fears over swine flu, La Opinion newspaper reported on Saturday. The Spanish-language Los Angeles paper said the matches of Chivas Guadalajara v Sao Paulo (Brazil) and San Luis v Nacional (Uruguay) appeared to be headed for the US. Brazilian firm Traffic Sports, the Libertadores Cup rights holder, had reached agreement with the clubs to hold a double-header at the Los Angeles venue. Traffic also offered Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas, to the South American Confederation (CONMEBOL), but the Coliseum was deemed a better option because of its greater seating capacity (some 92,000) and because of the large Mexican population in Los Angeles.
■GREECE
Olympiakos win Cup thriller
Olympiakos Piraeus won the Greek Cup final on Saturday 15-14 on penalty kicks over AEK Athens after the match ended 4-4 after extra time. It means Olympiakos secured a league and Cup double after winning the league title last month. The match, one of the most exciting in Greek Cup history, was forced to a penalty shootout after midfielder Scocco Ignacio Martin’s second goal leveled the scores for AEK at 4-4 in the 107th minute.
■ICE HOCKEY
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