体坛英语新闻：Lille, Lyon share spoils, Saint-Etienne rally past Monaco in Ligue 1

PARIS, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Lille went closer to confirm their second position after drawing 2-2 away to Lyon, while Saint-Etienne came from behind to triumph 3-2 at Monaco in the 35th round of Ligue 1 on Sunday.

After intercepting Jonathan Ikone's pass, Memphis Depay set up Martin Terrier to put Lyon ahead in the 11th minute.

Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes made several brilliant saves later in the first half, but could not prevent Lille's equalizer five minutes after the restart following a series of defensive errors from his teammates.

After Jason Denayer failed to clear an Ikone cross from the left, the ball bounced off Ferland Mendy to fall in front of Loic Remy, who rounded off Lopes and sidefooted it into an empty net.

Lyon found themselves down with another mistake in free-kick defense in the 69th minute. Leo Dubois let the ball across himself to let Boubakary Soumare poke the ball in off the under side of the crossbar.

It took the hosts just five minutes to restore parity, as Dubois made redemption by firing home after Moussa Dembele's shot was blocked by a Lille defender.

With three rounds to go, Lille remain six points ahead of Lyon and far superior goal difference in their contention for second place and automatic qualification into next season's Champions League group stage.

Lyon also need to be wary of Saint-Etienne in keeping the third position and a spot in Champions League qualifying round. Saint-Etienne only trail Lyon by one point.

Gelson Martins moved Monaco ahead in the 18th minute after he collected a long pass and sent it at the far corner of the net.

After seeing their starting goalkeeper Danijel Subasic hobble off in first-half stoppage time and Kamil Glik's header hit the bar five minutes into the second half, Monaco were beaten three times afterwards, commenced by Fode Ballo-Toure's 59th-minute own goal.

After Arnaud Nordin's shot was blocked, Remy Cabella was on position to smash the ball at target in the 71st minute, and guided Nordin's header at the near post with a precise delivery nine minutes later.

Carlos Vinicius, who came off the bench, met Martins' low cross to get one back for Monaco two minutes into stoppage time.

Monaco slide to 17th place, three points above the bottom three.

Also on Sunday, Montpellier drew Amiens 1-1, Nantes thrashed relegation-threatened Dijon 3-0, and Toulouse tied Rennes 2-2.