PARIS: Olympique de Marseille claimed their fifth home victory in a row when they beat Strasbourg 2-0 to move up to second in Ligue 1 on Tuesday.

Substitutes Clinton Njie and Dmitri Payet found the net to put OM on 44 points from 21 games, nine points behind runaway leaders Paris St Germain, who have a game in hand.

Monaco are third on 43 points after Mario Balotelli’s double earned Nice a 2-2 draw at the Louis II stadium in the Azurean derby.

Marseille struggled to break the deadlock in a dull first half but found a way through after the break.

Valere Germain saw a 72nd-minute penalty saved by Strasbourg goalkeeper Alexandre Oukidja, but the home side were rewarded for their dominance 10 minutes from fulltime when Njie volleyed home from close range.

Then, Njie’s smart flick sent Payet clean through in the 87th and the France international dummied Oukidja with a quick step-over move, before rounding him and tapping in.

“We missed pace and speed in the first half, but we were able to get back in the second with character and the missed penalty galvanised us,” said Payet.

Champions Monaco took the lead against the run of play after 33 minutes as Adama Diakhaby scored from point-blank range from Thomas Lemar’s cross.

Yet Nice equalised through Balotelli two minutes into the second half when the Italian latched onto Allan Saint Maximin’s cross from the right.

Balotelli put Nice ahead in the 68th, easing his way past Andrea Raggi before beating Danijel Subasic from close range.

It was the Italian’s third double in four games against Monaco.

Radamel Falcao salvaged a point for the hosts with a goal two minutes into stoppage time after substitute Stevan Jovetic’s shot was parried following a quickly-taken free kick.

“We should have won the game,” Nice coach Lucien Favre said. “We played much better in the second half.”

Elsewhere, Bordeaux slipped to a fifth defeat in six league games as they were beaten 2-0 by Caen.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2018