Saint-Etienne, Nantes stuck near bottom of Ligue 1 after draw

PARIS (AP) — Saint-Etienne and Nantes remained stuck near the bottom of the French league after their 1-1 draw on Sunday.

Both Saint-Etienne and Nantes are part of French soccer aristocracy, having respectively won 10 and and eight league titles. But their past glory has long vanished. This season, they have each mustered 17 points from 18 matches and are both in danger of being demoted.

Saint-Etienne sits 16th in the 18-team standings — the relegation playoff spot — just behind Nantes which has a better goal difference.

Nantes thought that it would bring back three crucial points from its trip to Stade Geoffroy Guichard until the 86th minute, when substitute forward Augustine Boakye snatched a late equalizer for the hosts with a long-range curled strike.

Moses Simon had opened the scoring for Nantes in the 14th minute.

Second-place Marseille later hosted Strasbourg looking to reduce the gap on leader PSG and extend its lead over rivals for the Champions League spots. PSG won 2-1 at Lens on Saturday ahead of a crucial Champions League match against Manchester City on Wednesday.

A nightmarish start leads to a loss

Auxerre was in control against Angers when Sinaly Diomandé beat his own goalkeeper with a powerful header as he tried to clear a corner in the 18th minute.

Four minutes later, his teammate Gabriel Osho was sent off for a foul on Estéban Lepaul and Auxerre found itself reduced to 10 men for more than an hour.

After such a poor start, Auxerre would have needed a miracle to recover. It did not happen and Angers won 2-0 after Lepaul scored soon after the interval.

The result lifted Angers level on points with Auxerre, with both clubs lagging 24 points behind PSG.

Also, Reims and Le Havre drew 1-1.

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