Marseille, Monaco clinch Champions League qualification from Ligue 1
Both sides came into the penultimate night of the French campaign knowing wins plus favourable results elsewhere could secure a top-three finish behind champions Paris Saint-Germain with a game of the season to spare.
Marseille got the job done away to relegation-threatened Le Havre, but it looked set to be a frustrating night for them despite Amine Gouiri putting the visitors in front.
The match was held up for around half an hour in the second half due to unrest caused by the presence of Marseille supporters in the home areas of the stadium, and when the action restarted Issa Soumare equalised for Le Havre.
However, Greenwood produced a moment of magic to put Marseille back in front from a powerful long-range strike with five minutes left, the goal his 19th of the season in Ligue 1.
Gouiri then sealed the win in stoppage time with his second of the game, leading to coach Roberto De Zerbi racing down the touchline to join in the celebrations with his players and the travelling fans.
"I am really, really pleased for the players, the club, the supporters and the city of Marseille, which is a city that lives for football," said De Zerbi after securing a return to the Champions League for the 1993 European champions.
"I think we deserve to qualify for the Champions League and we are going to really push next week to finish second behind PSG," added the Italian, whose side are a point above Monaco.
"In 10 years Marseille have been in the Champions League three times. This will be the fourth. We came eighth last year, reduced the wage bill and spent less in the transfer market than our direct rivals."
While Marseille were not involved in any European competition this season, Monaco made it to the knockout stages of the Champions League and they will be back among the continent's elite again in the next campaign.
Goals in the second half by Takumi Minamino and Denis Zakaria gave Monaco a 2-0 win over Lyon in the principality, dealing a huge blow to their opponents' prospects of getting the prize money from the Champions League that they so desperately need.
Lyon are seventh with one game left, although they remain three points behind Nice in fourth as well as Lille and Strasbourg, meaning the final spot in the Champions League will be contested by that quartet next weekend.
Nice went down 2-0 at Rennes, for whom Arnaud Kalimuendo scored twice, while Lille were beaten 2-0 away at Brest.
- Ramos hat-trick for PSG -
Meanwhile, Strasbourg suffered a surprise 2-1 loss at Angers, Esteban Lepaul netting both goals for the home side to inflict a first defeat in 13 matches on Liam Rosenior's team.
PSG have already wrapped up a fourth straight Ligue 1 title and rested several regulars for their 4-1 win at relegated Montpellier, three days after beating Arsenal to reach the Champions League final.
Teenager Senny Mayulu opened the scoring for PSG, who had lost their last two domestic outings, and Goncalo Ramos then netted a second-half hat-trick, including one goal from the penalty spot and one sensational strike from the edge of the area.
"He is a marvellous player," coach Luis Enrique said of the Portuguese striker.
Tanguy Coulibaly pulled one back for Montpellier, who do not yet know the identity of the second team to be automatically relegated to the second tier.
Saint-Etienne remain second-bottom, but goals by Florian Tardieu and Irvin Cardona gave them a 2-0 win at Reims which leaves Les Verts just a point behind Le Havre in the relegation play-off spot.
Le Havre are two points away from outright safety, with Nantes not yet guaranteed to stay up despite a 1-1 draw at Auxerre, and French Cup finalists Reims also still at risk of going down.
Toulouse and Lens drew 1-1 in the night's other game, while earlier Lorient sealed the Ligue 2 title ahead of Paris FC, who are also promoted.
as/nf
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
Back With New England, USMNT GK Turner Is Ready To Turn Heads Again
It's a lot closer than you think. The kickoff of the World Cup might be 10 months away, but August could wind up turning into a vital month for the U.S. men's national team. Yes, there are no international friendlies scheduled until the international friendly against the Korea Republic at Sports Illustrated Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 6. But there will be important news transpiring off the field: As where various key players will be competing as they begin their tune-up and find their form for the 2026 World Cup. Over the weekend, it was reported that forward Tim Weah will be loaned by Juventus, where he wasn't getting much playing time, to Olympique Marseille in France. As it turns out, it is the same French Ligue 1 team that his father, the great George Weah, starred for, from 1992-95. On Friday, the New England Revolution announced that it had signed acquired goalkeeper Matt Turner for the rest of his Major League Soccer season and through June 30, 2026, with the Revs having option to buy his contract. No doubt he needs to play regularly if the 25-year-old native wants to be the U.S.'s goalkeeper for the second consecutive World Cup. A mercurial rise After signing with the club as an undrafted free agent out of Fairfield University in 2016, Turner played the next seven seasons with the Revs. During that span, the 6-foot-3, 180-lb. keeper earned 2021 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year and MLS Best XI honors, secured the MLS All-Star Game MVP Award, and helped lead New England to its first Supporters' Shield title. Since venturing over to England to perform for Arsenal in 2022, Turner's playing time has been limited to a paltry 17 league matches. He bounced around to Nottingham Forest and then to Crystal Palace, making a handful of appearances, usually in cup competitions. He thought he finally found a team that he could call home when transferred to Lyon in France for $8 million. However, Lyon fell into financial trouble and the French Ligue 1 club and couldn't add Turner to its roster. So, he returned to New England. "My European adventure, it didn't go perfectly to plan but I did learn a lot along the way," he said during a Monday press conference. "So, I had some misfortunes. I had some opportunities that I didn't make the most of as well. It just didn't go perfectly to plan. However, like I said, I started my beautiful family over there, I have zero regrets about my time in England and I really loved it. I would never shut the door on a return either." Well, let's worry about the next year or so, please. Lyon not in the cards After thinking he finally found a home in Lyon, came the bad news that he could not play for the French side. 'It was a trying time, and it was difficult to be in limbo for a while," Turner said. "And thank you so much to my parents, and my wife's parents who are here today, because without them it would have been really difficult for our family. I mean, no one feels bad for a soccer player, right, because we make millions of dollars and it's all great and well and good, and your problems are insignificant." Turner said he was more concerned about his family, with finding the right schools for his two children and making sure his family had the proper health care insurance, regardless where they were. "Now, I turn to an extended family here in New England to take me in with open arms, and let me just focus on my work, and getting ready to achieve my ultimate goal, which we all know is to play in the 2026 World Cup here in the states,' he said. Not playing regularly wasn't the best way to prepare to play internationally, and especially for the USMNT. Unlike other positions on the soccer pitch, you can only use one goalie at a time. All the training sessions in the world can't make anyone into a world class goalkeeper. Games and vital decision-making under pressure when the game is on the line does. Playing for his country, not for his club Turner backstopped the USMNT for four games at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and performed well. When he returned to Arsenal, the only action he saw was getting up and down from the bench. Observers, media and soccer aficionados feared he was going to lose that sharpness sooner or later. It came crashing down on him when Turner wasn't sharp enough to make a save against on what turned into the winning goal for Panama in a 2-1 win over the USA in the Concacaf Nations League as the three-time defending champions USA hit another devastating stumbling block as it continued to prepare itself for the World Cup. At the time, former USMNT goalkeeper and National Soccer Hall of Famer Tony Meola talked about the little nuances during the scoring sequence that was replayed for the audience. Cecilio Waterman, some 16 yards out on the right side of the penalty area, deposited the ball into the lower left corner just past the outstretched right hand of Turner. Meola felt that Turner should have taken another step from the goal to cut down the angle. "I look at the angle that Matt Turner took," he said on the Paramount+ postgame show. "I looked at the distance of the shot, where that shot was taken from. Okay, it was a little bit of pace. There's no doubt about that. I don't want to take anything away from the goal scorer, but in this moment … Matt Turner is a little bit tucked in near that in that near post. I had a perfect angle from my vantage point here. Just a little bit of a hop, just before he takes that. So, his feet aren't planted. He doesn't have some explosion to his right. "At the end of the day, in a moment like this, and I'm not I'm not blaming Matt Turner, but those are moments where you have to find a way. Just like a forward in the end, like [Patrick] Agyemang has to find a way to put the ball in the back of the net. Josh Sargent has to find a way. A goalkeeper on the other end of the field has to find a way to make a save." Sharpness matters, especially for a goalie. A wake-up call Turner received the ultimate slap in the face from USMNT Mauricio Pochettino, who anointed New York City FC keeper Matt Freese as the team's No. 1 for the Concacaf Gold Cup in June and July. Looking back at that time, Turner saw that as a wake-up call. Freese played in all six games as the Americans lost to Mexico in the final. 'Yeah, obviously I was frustrated," he said. "Anytime you're a competitor and you get the opportunity to play, you want to play. But I had multiple conversations throughout the summer with the gaffer there at the national team. Sometimes you're just in a cycle and you need somebody to help you snap out of it a little bit. I think it took [Pochettino] to sort of help me take a step back and look at things from a different perspective, because I obviously was not playing at my best leading into that. I think sometimes you just have to shake it up a little bit to help the player then launch forward and achieve what the coach knows that the player and the player knows that they can achieve. 'So, for me I know what I can achieve, and his support was massive. He helped me to create a new perspective, create new relationships with guys on the team that I might not have had the chance to, and in another sort of scenario where I was playing. And I think also just to look at things from a different side, and show my leadership through a different way. I was grateful for the opportunity that he gave me in that sense, and now I think I can sort of see, with this journey that I've been on, that being in New England was the right place for me to continue to hone those skills, to create new relationships, to play games, to find my happiness in the sport. And then in turn I can give my best to him and to the National Team as well. I think if you look back at some of my greatest national team games, obviously the World Cup was amazing, but some of my greatest National Team games happened when I was here playing in New England.' Turner hoped that history will repeat itself in time for the next World Cup. He is expected to get plenty of games with the Revolution, where he will replace regular keeper, Slovenian native Aljaz Ivacic. When asked if was going to make his MLS season debut against D.C. United on Saturday, Turner replied: 'I'll let the coach [Caleb Porter] make the decision at the end of the day. But, I'm eager to integrate myself with the squad, show my qualities to everybody, and earn my place on the field.' A game-changer Revolution sporting director Curt Onalfo had no doubt that Turner will make an impact immediately for a 6-11-7 team with 25 points that is mired in 11th place in the MLS Eastern Conference, 10 points out of ninth place and the final MLS Cup Playoffs wildcard berth. "Matt is a game-changer," he said. "He's one of these guys that can turn a shot that should be a goal into a save." Turner and Weah weren't the only USMNT players who were in limbo this summer. Several of their teammates need to find new homes as the start of the various European seasons is right around the corner, later this month. The list includes midfielder-forward Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund), whose potential transfer to Parma (Italy) came apart last week because his Bundesliga side felt the offer wasn't big enough, and forward Josh Sargent (Norwich City), who nixed a move from the English Championship to Wolfsburg because he didn't want to move to Germany, even though it would be high level of competition. If their teams or agents don't get things sorted out soon, it could be a long, frustrating season for those two players with the World Cup looming closer than you think. Michael Lewis can be followed on X at Soccerwriter and on BlueSky at Soccerwriter.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
World Aquatics Championships 2025: Leon Marchand breaks Ryan Lochte's record; Luca Urlando wins gold in butterfly
It's not a surprise that France's Léon Marchand is one of the best swimmers in the world. Marchand won four gold medals at the 2024 Olympics, destroying the competition and announcing himself as a dominant force in the sport. He took that a step further Wednesday. Marchand set a new standard in the 200m individual medley Wednesday, not only beating Ryan Lochte's record, but obliterating it by more than a second. Marchand, who won $30,000 for breaking the record, finished with a time of 1:52.69 during the semifinals Wednesday. The previous record, which was held by Lochte, was 1:54.00. Lochte set that record at the World Championships in 2011. With the win in the semifinals, Marchand will look to carry his success over to the final Thursday. Marchand won the 200m individual medley at the World Championships in both 2022 and 2023, and will look for his third gold in the event Thursday. Luca Urlando takes home gold in 200m butterfly The 200m butterfly has proved an elusive event for Team USA on the men's side following Michael Phelps' retirement. No American man had medaled in the event since 2011, Phelps' last time winning the 200m butterfly at the World Championships. But that changed Wednesday, as Luca Urlando came away with the gold. Urlando posted a 1:51:87 time, beating Poland's Krzysztof Chmielewski and Australia's Harrison Turner for the top spot. Chmielewski finished second with a time of 1:52:64. Turner came in third, posting a 1:54:17 time. The win is a long time coming for Urlando, who was on the rise before a shoulder injury derailed him in 2022. With the win, Urlando becomes the first American man to pick up a gold medal at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships. The team struggled early at the event due to an illness that caused a number of swimmers to pull out of events or post slower times than usual. The team has recovered since then, with the women leading the way. Gretchen Walsh and Katie Ledecky are among the Team USA women to pick up gold medals at the World Championships so far. Jack Alexy sets new American record in 100m freestyle American Jack Alexy looked strong during 100m freestyle prelims Wednesday. Alexy turned in an incredible time of 46.81, setting an American record. Alexy's time narrowly beat Caeleb Dressel's 46.96 from the 2019 World Championships. It was an impressive performance by Alexy, but it didn't result in a medal ... yet. Alexy still needs to compete in the final. If he can recapture his semifinal performance, Alexy could walk away from the 100m freestyle with a medal. His job did get somewhat easier Wednesday after 100m freestyle favorite Pan Zhanle was surprisingly eliminated after a poor performance in the semis.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Igor Paixão on moving to Marseille: ‘I want to leave everything on the pitch for this club'
New Olympique de Marseille winger Igor Paixão (24) made his first appearance in front of the French press on Monday following his €30m (+€5m) move from Feyenoord. The Brazilian – now the most expensive signing in OM's history – promised fans he would give 'everything' for the club. Paixão said the following at a press conference transcribed by Get French Football News. Paixão registered 18 goals and 19 assists last season and is expected to line up on the left opposite Mason Greenwood. 'I love to score, I love to assist — but I'll also defend. If I can't score, I'll help the team in any way.' 'I want to give all the values I have to this club. I think we can do something great,' Paixão said. 'I want to leave everything on the pitch.' He also spoke with emotion about the support he received from fans upon arrival in Marseille. 'The welcome was incredible. It makes me want to give even more.' 'I know the supporters here are anti-racist — and that's something very important for me,' said the Brazilian winger. 'I've suffered from racism. That makes me even more determined to give everything for this club.' He added: 'This city is full of energy, and it motivates me. When I step on the pitch at the Vélodrome, I want to fight for these people.' The 24-year-old is recovering from a minor injury but says he's close to full fitness and eager to debut at the Vélodrome. 'I can't wait to play in front of these fans. It's going to be something special.' | – Reporting from Marseille.