Caen, Dijon bag full points in relegation battle, PSG reach century-goal milestone

Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-12 06:10:10|Editor: Yurou
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PARIS, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Caen and Dijon bagged full points in their attempt to avoid relegation, while already crowned Paris Saint-Germain harvested their 100th league goal of the campaign in a 2-1 road victory over Angers in the 36th round of Ligue 1 on Saturday.

Casimir Ninga put Caen in front in the 14th minute with a header on Emmanuel Imorou's cross. After Moussa Doumbia found an equalizer, Caen scored two goals in a span of five minutes before the break through Faycal Fajr and Frederic Guilbert.

Two minutes after South Korean forward Suk Hyun-jun forced a high-quality save from goalkeeper Brice Samba, Reims got one back through Arber Zeneli's spot kick with eight minutes from time, but the hosts held on for a 3-2 win.

South Korean Kwon Chang-hoon scored the winner in the fourth minute of stoppage time in Dijon's 2-1 home win over Strasbourg.

The hosts moved ahead late in the first half thanks to Julio Tavares' penalty, which was cancelled out by Ludovic Ajorque's 68th-minute goal. It was Kwon that kept Dijon's hope of staying in the top-flight league alive.

The 2017 league champions Monaco found themselves back in danger of relegation following a 1-0 loss at Nimes, who were powered by Renaud Ripart's header in the ninth minute.

With two matches remaining, a mere one-goal difference separate the 17th-ranked Monaco from Caen at the play-off spot. Both sides are two points above Dijon. Guingamp are the closest to relegation, sitting on bottom six points behind Dijon while having played one fewer match.

Neymar, who had been banned for three matches due to his clash with a fan following PSG's loss in the French Cup final, became the main contributor with one goal and one assist as his team shaked off recent sluggishness.

Despite having secured the league title, PSG nailed just one win in seven matches prior to Saturday.

Neymar nodded fellow Brazilian Dani Alves' cross from right wing in the 20th minute, and teed up Angel Di Maria's header in the 68th minute, seeing PSG achieve the 100th league goal milestone this season.

However, the visitors failed to finish a clean sheet, as skipper Marquinhos gifted Angers a late penalty and was shown a red card himself for a foul inside the box. Despite his first attempt blocked by veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, Flavien Tait was on position to hit the rebound at target with three minutes remaining.

With six points ahead of Lyon, second-placed Lille can follow in PSG's footsteps to secure another ticket to next season's Champions League group stage in Sunday's clash with Bordeaux, while Lyon expect a tough visit to Marseille.

Also on Saturday, Amiens and Toulouse finished a goalless draw, and Nice tied Nantes 1-1 at home.

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