Marseille and Monaco secure Champions League berths with top-three Ligue 1 spots
Marseille's supporters cheer and light flares ahead of their French Ligue 1 away match against Le Havre on May 10, 2025. PHOTO: AFP
PARIS - Olympique de Marseille survived a mid-match interruption due to crowd trouble to secure their place in next season's Champions League with a 3-1 Ligue 1 win at Le Havre, while Monaco made sure of a top three finish with a 2-0 victory over Olympique Lyonnais.
Second half goals from Takumi Minamino and Denis Zakaria sealed Monaco a place in Europe's top club competition, where they will join Ligue 1 champions Paris St Germain and Marseille.
Marseille led at Le Havre through Amine Gouiri's 53rd minute score but saw Issa Soumare equalise after a 15-minute interruption in the second half when the referee took the teams into the changing rooms in response to trouble in the stands.
But Mason Greenwood struck his 19th league goal of the season in the 86th minute to put them back ahead and Gouiri added the third deep in stoppage time to leave Le Havre facing the possibility of relegation next Saturday when all nine fixtures will kick off simultaneously.
Marseille moved up to 62 points while Monaco are on 61. The other French places in European club competitions will be decided on the final day of the season next weekend.
Fourth place in Ligue 1, which guarantees a place in the Champions League preliminary rounds next season, is still up for grabs with Nice, Lille and Strasbourg all on 57 points after they all lost on the road.
PSG rested almost all of the team that earlier this week secured a place in the Champions League final but still turned out comfortable 4-1 winners at Montpellier.
PSG had already retained the title last month and with both the Coupe de France final and the Champions League decider against Inter Milan later this month, coach Luis Enrique elected to field a second-string side, keeping only two starters from Wednesday's semi-final success over Arsenal.
They still proved too strong, however, for already-relegated Montpellier with Goncalo Ramos netting three, one from the penalty spot, after teenager Senny Mayulu had the opened the scoring one minute before halftime. PSG advanced to 81 points.
Stade Rennais beat Nice 2-0 while Lille were edged by the same score at Brest. Strasbourg lost 2-1 at Angers, who moved to safety with the win.
St Etienne kept alive their hopes of avoiding the drop with a 2-0 away win over cup finalist Stade Reims. REUTERS
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