Paris Saint-Germain reinvigorated their Ligue 1 title challenge by cutting Montpellier's lead at the top of the table to three points with three games to play.
Wins for PSG, Lille and Lyon at the top; Marseille end losing streak
Paris Saint-Germain reinvigorated their Ligue 1 title challenge by cutting Montpellier's lead at the top of the table to three points with three games to play.
In the evening's other games, defending champions Lille kept their hand in the French title race by narrowly winning at Nice on Wednesday.
Lyon are on course to finish fourth after a thumping win at the Stade Gerland while Marseille finally recorded a much needed victory at the 14th time of asking.
Meanwhile, second-bottom Sochaux missed the opportunity to climb out of the drop zone despite taking the lead in their match.
Paris Saint-Germain reinvigorated their Ligue 1 title challenge by winning 2-0 at home to
Saint-Etienne.
Nene put PSG ahead from the penalty spot at Parc des Princes after Sylvain Marchal had been harshly penalised for sliding in on Jeremy Menez in an attempt to block the winger's shot.
Menez hit the post on the half hour but PSG had to wait until the 88th minute for Javier Pastore to make the game safe, the Argentine crisply dispatching Christophe Jallet's low cross to claim his 12th goal of the season to help the Capital giants move to within three points of Montpellier, who were held to a 2-2 draw by Evian on Tuesday.
Lille moved to within five points of leaders
Montpellier thanks to a tight 1-0 victory at Nice on Wednesday.
Tulio de Melo scored the game's only goal in the sixth minute, nodding in a left-wing cross from Eden Hazard after the Belgian winger had bamboozled a pair of defenders with a sharp Cruyff turn.
Lille's fourth consecutive win took Rudi Garcia's side to within two points of PSG.
Lyon's chances of a top-three finish are almost extinct but they are on course to finish fourth after winning 4-1 at home to
Valenciennes.
Cris put the freshly anointed French Cup winners ahead with a 69th-minute header after Lisandro Lopez's deflected opener had been quickly cancelled out by a Renaud Cohade penalty.
Lisandro made it 3-1 shortly after before Jimmy Briand scrambled home from close range in the closing stages.
Rennes slipped from fourth to fifth after losing 2-0 at
Bordeaux thanks to goals from Ludovic Obraniak and midfielder Landry N'Guemo, while
Toulouse remain seventh following a 0-0 draw at
Brest.
Marseille finally brought their 13-game winless run in the league to an end by winning 1-0 at home to
Nancy through a 31st-minute strike from top scorer Loic Remy.
Relegation scrap
Second-bottom
Sochaux spurned the chance to climb out of the bottom three, blowing a 1-0 lead to lose 2-1 at
Ajaccio in a match that saw David Sauget and Yassin Mikari sent off for the visitors.
Christian Kinkela and Richard Socrier claimed Ajaccio's goals to lift their side three points clear of the relegation places - a day after fellow Corsican side Bastia sealed their promotion from Ligue 2.
Elsewhere,
Caen calmed their own relegation anxieties by winning 1-0 at home to
Lorient courtesy of a scorching 30-yard shot from Thomas Heurtaux mid-way through the second half.
With three games of the season remaining, just five points separate Lorient in 13th place and 19th-placed Sochaux.
Bottom club Auxerre are a further three points back but they have a game in hand at third-bottom Dijon on Thursday.
