Lyon defeat throws title race open

PARIS, France -- Senegal international Mamadou Niang and former Liverpool striker Djibril Cisse grabbed the goals in Marseille's 3-1 win over Lyon on Sunday to throw the French title race wide open.

The result leaves champions Lyon with a six-point lead over Bordeaux with six games to go and kept Marseille on track for a place in Europe next season, three points behind third-placed Nancy.

Victory would have given Lyon a huge helping hand in their bid for a seventh successive title but they were undone by conceding two goals in two first-half minutes in front of a volatile 60,000 crowd at the Stade Velodrome.

Cisse struck first in the 25th minute with a superb finish from Sami Nasri's inch-perfect center from the right. Niang then made it 2-0 hitting home a pass from Cisse beyond the reach of Gregory Coupet in goal.

Marseille captain Lorik Cana scored an own-goal on the stroke of half-time, diverting a Juninho free-kick past his own goalkeeper before Niang, with his 15th league goal of the season, made sure of the three points with a 53rd-minute header.

Meanwhile, Paris Saint Germain slumped deeper into a survival dogfight when they lost 1-0 at Nancy. The latest setback, coming just a week after Paul Le Guen's side enjoyed a brief respite from their misery by lifting the League Cup, leaves them third from bottom on 35 points with six matches left.

Nancy, who had not defeated PSG at home since 1986, stay third, six points behind Bordeaux and 12 off Lyon. Marc-Antoine Fortune grabbed the only goal of the game in the 67th minute when he met David Sauget's cross at the far post with a powerful drive which PSG keeper Mickael Landreau got a hand to but could not keep out.

"It's very frustrating to lose," said Le Guen whose team are one of four locked on 35 points. "Now it will be tough and very complicated. The fact that we played well doesn't reassure me. We needed to get the points today. There are six matches left and we know that every match, every point will count." E-mail to a friend