PARIS: AS Monaco beat slumping Olympique de Marseille 3-0 on Saturday to take second place in Ligue 1 from their opponents and boost their hopes of qualifying for next season`s Champions League.

The principality club lead Marseille by one point with five matches remaining, but seventhplaced Olympique Lyonnasi are only four points further adrift with a game in hand.

Lille are fourth, two points behind Marseille and above Strasbourg ongoal difference.

Monaco inflicted a fourth defeat in five Ligue 1 games on Roberto De Zerbi`s Marseille, who are in danger of throwing away a Champions League place after sitting second in the French top flight for much of the campaign.

Monaco took the lead in the 34th minute at the Stade Louis II when Takumi Minamino swept home his fifth league goal of the season following some dreadful Marseille defending.Marseille came close to an equaliser shortly before half-time, but Luis Henrique`s effort was well saved by Monaco goallceeper Philipp Kohn.

The hosts doubled their advantage shortly before the hour as Breel Embolo slipped the ball past Geronimo Rulli after an excellent pass through from Vanderson.

Monaco added further gloss to the scoreline and bolstered theirgoaldifference, which could prove crucial, through Denis Zakaria`s late penalty.

In Saturday`s later match,Strasbourg`s five-match winning run in Ligue 1 came to a dramatic end as Youssouf Ndayishimiye scored with the final touch of the game to grab Nice a 2-2 draw at the Stade de la Meinau.

Left-back Melvin Bard gave Nice a 38th-minute lead as he latched onto a ball in behind from Jonathan Clauss, keeping his footing before slotting in.

Strasbourg hit back through Emmanuel Emegha`s 13th league goal of the season early in the second half, before Samuel Amo-Ameyawcompleted the turnaround just three minutes later.

But Burundi international Ndayishimiye pounced in the last minute of added time to move Nice up to sixth, two points behind Strasbourg.

Meanwhile, Lille climbed into fourth after a 2-1 victory at Toulouse.

Mitchel Bakker scored the winning goal in first-half injury time, after Toulouse centre-back Charlie Cresswell had cancelled out Mathias Fernandez-Pardo`s opener.-AFP