Marseille regained its balance by defeating its guest Angers 3-1, while Clermont-Ferrand weakened the chances of its guest Lyon in the competition for a qualifying seat for a continental competition next season, when it defeated it 2-1 Sunday in the thirty-fifth stage of the French Football League.

In the first match, Marseille succeeded in regaining its winning streak after losing to its host Lens 1-2 in the last stage, and turned the tables on its guest Angers, the first to be relegated to the second division 3-1.

Angers was the first to score through Senegalese striker Abdullah Sima (28), but the southern team responded with three goals for Chilean international Alexis Sanchez (34), Dimitri Payet (48) and Jordan Verito (77 from a penalty kick).

Marseille strengthened its position in third place, with 73 points, two points behind Lens, who beat Reims 2-1 on Friday, in the opening stage.

In the second, Lyon advanced through its captain and scorer Alexandre Lacazette in the 22nd minute, raising his tally to 25 goals, in second place on the scorers list, one goal behind Paris St.

Lacazette failed to snatch a deadly draw for his team when he failed to translate a penalty kick in the sixth minute of stoppage time, and Lyon suffered its eleventh defeat this season in the league.

Lacazette had scored a super hat-trick for Lyon against his guest Montpellier, including a penalty kick in the tenth minute of stoppage time, from which he scored the winning goal.

Lyon's balance froze at 56 points in seventh place, four points away from Lille, the last fifth-place finisher who qualifies for a continental competition, which tied negatively with its host Monaco.

The hopes of Monaco, who qualified fourth for the European League competition, “Europa League” next season, evaporated, in the competition for the second card that qualifies directly to the Champions League, after the difference between him and Lens the twelfth became ten points, and it made his task difficult to compete for the card that qualified for the third round of the continental competition. The difference between him and Marseille III is now eight points.

Rennes regained his balance and tightened the screws on Lille by honoring him and benefiting his guest, Troyes, with a clean four, which was alternately scored by the Belgian Arthur Thiet (14), Benjamin Borrego (65) and Cameroonian Carl Toko Ekambi (71 and 74).

Rennes raised its score to 59 points, one point behind Lille, while Troyes joined Angers and Ajaccio to the second round, after its score froze at 22 points.

The match saw Rennes pay tribute to the AFP journalist Armand Soldin, who was killed Tuesday in Ukraine, and who grew up in the club's ranks as a teenager.

The players and the public stood before the starting whistle in the "Roazon Park" stadium and applauded warmly, while the screens showed a picture of the journalist, who died at the age of 32.

And the club announcer announced, "With courage and commitment, he did not stop conveying to people the reality of an ongoing struggle," adding, "He is passionate about football and a loyal fan of the red and black team. He wore our shirt between 2006 and 2008."

For this occasion, the club invited about thirty of Söldin's relatives and family members residing in Rennes and friends who came to stand by them, including his sister who lives in the city of Mostar in Bosnia.

Brest strengthened its chances of survival by defeating its guest, Auxerre, with a single goal scored by Jeremy Le Douaron in the 69th minute.
Brest strengthened its position in fifteenth place with 38 points, four points ahead of Auxerre sixteenth.
Montpellier tied with Lorient with a goal by Vito Mawasa (90 + 4) against a goal by Roman Fever (68).

Toulouse also drew 0-0 at home to Nantes.

The Moroccan international Zakaria Abu Khalal (Toulouse) and the Egyptian Mostafa Mohamed (Nantes) missed the match because they refused to play in the rainbow colors of homosexual support.

And the newspaper "La Dipeche du Midi" stated that Abu Khalal, who plays in the squad regularly, refused to wear this shirt, after it had previously indicated that defender Logan Costa from Cape Verde and Algerian international midfielder Fares Chaibi, in turn, refused to wear the shirt, despite their appearance on Match sheet.

Chaibi entered in the 61st minute, in place of the Japanese, Ado Onayewu, while Koshta sat on the bench.

He was also absent for the same reason, the financial Musa Diarra and the Dutchman of Bosnian origin, Saeed Hamulic.

And AFP learned from sources close to Nantes club that Mostafa Mohamed refused to play in the same shirt.

Toulouse said in an anonymous statement that other players "expressed their disagreement with having their image associated with the colors of the rainbow representing the LGBT movement."

The club, which won the French Cup title the week before last, added, without specifying the names of the players involved: “Out of respect for the individual choices of the players, and after many exchanges of views, the club chose to exclude these players from the match.”

"Openness to the world is an integral part of the club's DNA," he said, stressing that the club "would finally like to recall its longstanding commitment to combating homophobia and all forms of discrimination."

And on the occasion of the annual campaign "Gay or Transgender, We All Wear the Same Shirt", this weekend all the first and second division players will wear a shirt embroidered with the colors of the rainbow, the same colors that are on the captain's armbands.