Monaco beats Marseille

Marseille:

They've shone in Europe this season - and on course for silverware. So it hardly came as surprise to see Monaco and Marseille working at less than their scintillating best in the French Ligue 1 on Sunday. Yet Monaco are still very much in the hunt for the domestic title - as well as featuring in the final of the Champions League alongside Porto. Marseille though, dominated in terms of what chances were created. The highly-vaunted Didier Drogba didn't appear until late midway through the second half, yet Jose Anigo's team caused consistent problems, mainly via the Spaniard Koke. Both teams though, when it came down to the final touch, found things went awry. 0-0 at half time and opportunities didn't significantly increase after the break. Fernando Morientes seemed to be saving himself, while Dado Prso was away pledging his future to Glasgow Rangers. But with Flavio Roma as solid as ever between the posts, Monaco bided their time and waited - and waited. And in the 93rd minute, a goal came, via the sort of goalkeeping mishap by Fabien Barthez that curtailed what should have been a glittering career with Manchester United. Undeserved it might have been. But the victory kept Didier Deschamps' men within two points of Lyon at the top of the table with three games to play. Marseille will have to improve on their rate of converting chances to goals by the time they meet Valencia in the UEFA Cup final. (AP)

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