AS Monaco, locked in a three-way tussle with AS Saint-Etienne and Olympique de Marseille, booked the third and final place in next season’s UEFA Champions League thanks to a season-closing 1-0 win over Lorient on Saturday.
A first-half goal by Yannick Ferreira Carrasco was enough to help the Principality side clinch a place in the playoffs as they remained third, two points ahead of Marseille and Saint-Etienne.
“I am happy for the players and the fans because Monaco showed they were the third-best team in France this year and they proved it on the pitch by going from the bottom of the league to third place,” Monaco coach Leonardo Jardim said. “I believe it’s well deserved. We did our job well. Without our bad start to the season, we could have been even higher.”
Photo: AP
Marseille, with a 3-0 win over SC Bastia, and Saint-Etienne, who edged En Avant de Guingamp 2-1, sealed their places in next season’s UEFA Europa League playoffs.
Marseille’s game was delayed for 20 minutes just before the start of the second half as fans threw objects on the pitch, leading referee Ruddy Buquet to send the players back into the dressing rooms while police tired to control the crowd.
It was nonetheless an emotional game for Marseille’s Andre-Pierre Gignac and Andre Ayew, who both will be leaving the South of France giants during the summer, but it was standout Dimitri Payet who took the spotlight with his seventh goal of the season after just 14 minutes, before a Jeremy Morel shot, deflected by Corsican youngster Alexander Djiku, flew into the net five minutes before halftime.
Monaco loanee Lucas Ocampos added a third goal to seal the deal with a deft run through the SC Bastia defense.
Meanwhile, freshly crowned champions Paris Saint-Germain celebrated their latest title triumph with a brace by Edinson Cavani and a third goal from Adrien Rabiot to overcome Stade de Reims 3-2.
With the Coupe de la Ligue also under their belts, PSG are still aiming for an unprecedented domestic treble when they tackle second-tier AJ Auxerre in the Coupe de France final on Saturday.
A win at the Stade de France for Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s teammates would mean the world for sixth-placed Girondins de Bordeaux, who would then qualify for the Europa League.
Bordeaux got the party going in their new stadium as Diego Rolan, who had already scored the last goal in the old Stade Chaban Delmas, bagged a brace in his side’s 2-1 victory over Montpellier Herault.
Elsewhere, eighth-placed LOSC Lille Metropole ended their disappointing season with a 4-1 drubbing of relegation-bound Metz, while bottom-of-the-table Racing Club de Lens kissed Ligue 1 goodbye with a 1-0 win over Nantes. Stade Malherbe Caen Calvados eased past relegated Evian Thonon Gaillard 3-2 and OGC Nice toyed with fire in their 3-2 away win at Toulouse.
Clinton Njie struck late for Olympique Lyonnais as the second-placed side beat a lackluster Stade Rennais 1-0.
The closing day saw PSG’s Zoumana Camara, 36, hang up his boots alongside SC Bastia’s former Liverpool forward Djibril Cisse.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was