LOSC Lille Metropole clinched a Champions League berth after beating Lorient 4-1 on the final day of Ligue 1, which also saw Evian Thonon-Gaillard retain their top-flight status at the expense of Sochaux-Montbeliard.
Needing a victory to assure themselves of a third-place finish and a spot in next year’s Champions League third qualifying round, Lille fell behind at the Stade du Moustoir after Jeremie Aliadiere’s 22nd-minute opener for the hosts.
However, Lille, who have occupied no spot lower than third since October last year, replied through leading scorer Salomon Kalou 10 minutes later.
Photo: AFP
Having laid on the first goal, Nolan Roux then put Rene Girard’s visiting side in front seven minutes after half time, heading into an unguarded net after Lorient goalkeeper Fabien Audard flapped unsuccessfully at a Florent Balmont cross.
Another blunder from Audard presented Kalou with his second and Lille’s third on 65 minutes as he bundled home from close range to take his season’s tally to 16.
A late own-goal from defender Gregory Bourillon added gloss to the scoreline, which rendered AS Saint-Etienne’s 3-1 victory at home to rock-bottom AC Ajaccio irrelevant, forcing les Verts to settle for fourth and a Europa League berth.
At the Stade Geoffroy Guichard, Loic Perrin headed a Max-Alain Gradel cross to put Saint-Etienne ahead before Mevlut Erding doubled their lead after Gradel squared to the unmarked Turkish striker, who put home his 12th goal of the term.
Perrin put the game out of reach with his second after the interval, before Issa Baradji pulled one back for Ajaccio in stoppage-time.
At Montbeliard, Evian’s 3-0 win over Sochaux consigned the hosts to the second tier after their seven-match unbeaten run was abruptly ended by their relegation rivals.
Herve Renard’s men needed a win over les Croix de Savoie to stay up, but soon found themselves on the back foot at the Stade Auguste Bonal, where they had been unbeaten since January, as Denmark international Daniel Wass fired in an acrobatic volley on nine minutes.
Aldo Angoula netted a second before the break, before Wass sealed the three points and Evian’s place in Ligue 1 with his third.
Also on Saturday, Champions Paris Saint-Germain set a new record for wins in a season with their 27th of the campaign courtesy of a 4-0 rout of Montpellier Herault.
Zlatan Ibrahimovc netted his league-best 26th goal, as Ezequiel Lavezzi, Lucas and Adrian Rabiot also got on the scoresheet to extend PSG’s record points haul to 89.
Following les Verts into the Europe League were Olympique Lyonnais, who booked their ticket with a 1-0 win over OGC Nice.
A sixth-minute header from Bakary Kone saw Lyon finish fifth, one point ahead of Olympique de Marseille, who beat En Avant de Guingamp by the same scoreline.
Elsewhere in Ligue 1, AS Monaco were held 1-1 by Girondins de Bordeaux, while SC Bastia goalkeeper Mickael Landreau kept a clean sheet in his final league game in a goalless draw against Nantes.
Also on Saturday, Stade Rennais beat Stade de Reims 3-1 and Toulouse crushed Valenciennes 3-1.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set