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PSG beats Brest to almost seal a 14th Ligue 1 title, race for Champions League spot heats up
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- PSG beats Brest to almost seal a 14th Ligue 1 title, race for Champions League spot heats up
PARIS (AP) — Désiré Doué's late goal earned Paris Saint-Germain a 1-0 home win over Brest on Sunday and all but sealed a record-extending 14th Ligue 1 title.
PSG leads second-place Lens by six points and only needs a draw when they meet in their rescheduled game on Wednesday, after which comes the final round next Sunday.
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If PSG loses twice and Lens wins both its matches, Lens could mathematically win the title on goal difference but PSG has a far superior goal difference of +44 compared to +29.
Doué picked up a pass on the left side of the penalty area and skipped past three players before bending a fine shot into the bottom right corner in the 83rd minute of a mostly dull contest.
With heavy rain falling at Parc des Princes, the game was briefly held up in the first half when a technical glitch prevented communication between referee Jérôme Brisard and his assistants.
Lens beat Nantes 1-0 on Friday, guaranteeing a spot in next season's Champions League and relegating eight-time French champion Nantes to Ligue 2.
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Race for the Champions League
The top three earn an automatic place in next season's Champions League and the last spot will be contested by Lille, Lyon and Rennes next Sunday.
Lille is in third after grinding out a 1-0 win at Monaco courtesy of an own-goal from Monaco captain Denis Zakaria with 20 minutes left.
That moved Lille one point ahead of Lyon, which lost 2-1 at Toulouse, and two points clear of fifth-place Rennes, which rallied to a 2-1 win against Paris FC.
Esteban Lepaul netted his league-leading 20th goal of the season for Rennes, which goes to Marseille next weekend.
Relegation battle
Auxerre moved out of 16th place and the relegation-playoff spot after a 2-1 home win over Nice, which in turn dropped to 16th with a worse goal difference.
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Lassine Sinayoko got Auxerre's winning goal midway through the second half.
Nice has the easier-looking game next weekend because it hosts last-place Metz — which lost 4-0 at home to midtable Lorient — while Auxerre has a daunting trip to Lille.
Le Havre survived on the final day last season and faces a repeat scenario because it is only one point ahead of Nice and Auxerre. Le Havre has a difficult game coming up at Lorient, which is strong at home.
Other matches
Marseille moved into sixth place after a gritty 1-0 win at Le Havre thanks to forward Mason Greenwood's second-half penalty.
Veteran Marseille striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was absent from the squad following an alleged prank at the club's training facility. Media reports said he doused Bob Tahri — the club's sports coordinator — with a fire extinguisher.
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Marseille's chaotic season began with key midfielder Adrien Rabiot and forward Jonathan Rowe being sold after fighting in the locker room following an opening-day defeat at Rennes.
Still, Marseille can finish fifth on goal difference if it next beats Rennes in a match pitting Marseille's coach Habib Beye against his former club.
In Sunday's other match, Angers assured its safety by drawing 1-1 at home with Strasbourg. ___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
