Saint-Etienne, Montpellier boost Euro hopes

Saint-Etienne moved closer to Champions League football with a 5-0 drubbing of Nice in Ligue 1 on Sunday as Montpellier won 1-0 at Lens to keep their European hopes alive.

Goals from Loic Perrin, Jeremy Clement, Mevlut Erding, Max-Alain Gradel and Kevin Monnet-Paquet allowed hosts Saint-Etienne leapfrog Marseille into fourth place.

Saint-Etienne find themselves three points ahead of Marseille but just two behind Monaco, who occupy the third and final spot for Champions League football next season.

Marseille have to win later Sunday at home against Monaco to retain any hope of qualifying for next season's Champions League at the Principality side's expense.

Earlier Montpellier's Anthony Mounier scored his side's winning goal, his eighth of the season, in stoppage time after latching onto a pass from Ellyes Skhiri.

Before that, Montpellier had been unable to break down already-relegated Lens, who were reduced to 10 men after Loick Landre's 64th-minute sending-off.
Montpellier remain seventh in the table with two games left but are only three points adrift of Bordeaux in sixth, which will be good enough to qualify for next season's Europa League as long as Paris Saint-Germain beat second-tier Auxerre in the French Cup final later this month.

PSG's 6-0 hammering of Guingamp on Friday coupled with nearest rivals Lyon's 3-0 capitulation at Caen on Saturday means the capital club are now on the brink of winning a third successive Ligue 1 title.

Paris are six points clear of Lyon with two games left so need just a point away to 2012 champions Montpellier next weekend to take the crown.
Source: AFP