Marseille held 0-0 at Monaco in French league

PARIS (AP): Defending champion Marseille was held to a 0-0 draw at next-to-last Monaco in the French league on Sunday, falling eight points behind leader Lille in the title race.

The mediocrity of Marseille's performance casts serious doubt on its ability to bridge the gap.

"We played poorly tonight," Marseille goalkeeper Steve Mandanda told Canal Plus television. "We were completely sleepy. We had trouble getting into the match. In fact, we didn't get into the match. We didn't manage to create chances. We won't go far if we keep playing like this.

"Things are becoming a bit complicated. At the top, teams are moving ahead fast, especially Lille, while we are trailing.

Let's focus on winning matches first before thinking about the title."

Montpellier rallied to win 2-1 at Nancy and rise to sixth spot, only two behind a Europa League berth, while Bordeaux beat Nice 2-0 to climb to eighth place.

Lille edged Lens 1-0 Saturday to improve to 41 points, four clear of second-place Paris Saint-Germain.

Mahamadou Diarra, who joined Monaco after Real Madrid had released him, had a rough start in Sunday's match.

In the opening minute, the Mali midfielder hit a weak backpass that was intercepted by Marseille forward Loic Remy, but goalkeeper Stephane Ruffier quickly rushed outside the area to clear the danger. Diarra also received a yellow card in the 29th.

Marseille has the first chance of the match in the 34th, when Remy headed just wide of the far post from a cross by Jordan Ayew.

Monaco almost took the lead on the stroke of halftime. Mathieu Coutadeur collected a long pass from Diarra to be clean through on goal, but was denied from 14 yards by Mandanda.

In the 60th, Remy beat the offside trap to fire an angled shot from 10 yards that was parried by Ruffier.

Marseille remained in fifth place with 33 points while Monaco stayed in the relegation zone with 21 points.

"I really didn't expect that," Marseille coach Didier Deschamps said. "Both our legs and our minds were slow. We had too many technical deficiencies and we lacked aggressiveness and determination."

In Nancy, Youssouf Hadji tapped in a pass from Joel Sami to put the hosts ahead after two minutes.

But Montpellier striker Souleymane Camara headed home a cross from winger Karim Ait-Fana to level six minutes later.

Garry Bocaly scored the winning goal from a long-range strike in the 59th minute as Montpellier went level on points with Marseille in the standings.

"We didn't panic," Montpellier midfielder Joris Marveaux told RTL radio. "We reacted well. We tried to play our game and we scored twice."

Bordeaux center back Ludovic Sane headed in a corner from Jaroslav Plasil in the 37th minute.

Teammate Anthony Modeste then shot past goalkeeper David Ospina in the 57th to notch his eighth league goal and double the lead.

"It was important to not get caught by teams behind us," Bordeaux coach Jean Tigana said. "We needed that reaction to regain confidence."

Bordeaux had been eliminated from the French Cup last weekend after losing 1-0 to second-division club Angers.

In Saturday's other games, it was: Arles-Avignon 1, Paris Saint-Germain 2; Sochaux 5, Rennes 1; Valenciennes 2, Lyon 1; Saint-Etienne 2, Toulouse 1; Lorient 2, Brest 0 and Caen 2, Auxerre 0.