Lille Beat Marseille To Boost Champions League Hopes
NDTV
Canadian star Jonathan David scored his 23rd goal of the season to set Lille on the way to a 3-1 win over Marseille on Friday that kept them firmly on course for next season's Champions League.
Canadian star Jonathan David scored his 23rd goal of the season to set Lille on the way to a 3-1 win over Marseille on Friday that kept them firmly on course for next season's Champions League. David's penalty put Lille ahead early in the second half. Remy Cabella doubled their lead on 71 minutes by scoring against his former club. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang claimed a goal back for Marseille, but substitute Gabriel Gudmundsson made sure of the victory for Lille late on. The northern side, who face Aston Villa next week in their first ever European quarter-final in the Europa Conference League, move up to third in Ligue 1 ahead of the rest of the weekend's matches.
They are a point behind second-placed Brest and ahead of Monaco in fourth on goal difference, with the gap to Nice in fifth now six points.
The top three in Ligue 1 will qualify automatically for next season's expanded Champions League, with the team in fourth entering Europe's elite club competition in the preliminary rounds.
Marseille are seventh, which may yet be enough to sneak into Europe next season depending on who wins the French Cup, but they are a huge 10 points adrift of the top four and only have six matches left to play.
OM, who face Benfica in Portugal in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final next week, have lost four straight in all competitions.
