Lille stop PSG from going top of Ligue 1

Paris Saint-Germain's Uruguayan forward Edinson Cavani celebrates after scoring a goal during their French L1 football match Lille vs PSG at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium

Paris, Dec 4 (IANS) Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) missed their best chance so far to overtake Marseille for the French Ligue 1 top spot after being held 1-1 at Lille.

The defending champions were Wednesday put ahead through Edinson Cavani in the 29th minute when the Uruguay striker received a dangerous cross from Ezequiel Lavezzi and finished it from the left, reports Xinhua.

Laurent Blanc's side, however, failed to take the lead into the break as their brilliant regular goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu committed an own goal in the 42nd minute while dealing with David Rozehnal's header.

With first place at stake following Marseille's draw with Lorient Tuesday, the PSG, without rested Swede maestro Zlatan Ibrahimovic up front, could not find a winner in the second half.

The Parisiens, who had won the previous nine matches in all competitions, stayed second after Wednesday's draw, with just one point behind Marseille.

Lille are yet to win in the last 11 games in all competitions and now sit on the 15th place in the 20-member top-flight's table.

Christophe Mandanne and Claudio Beauvue scored twice apiece to help Guingamp win 5-1 at home over Caen and move off the relegation zone, while Cedric Carrasso saved a late penalty from Florent Malouda to earn Bordeaux a goalless draw at Metz.

Elsewhere, three home sides suffered defeats as Bastia hit the bottom after losing 1-2 to visitors Evian, Montpellier were beaten 0-2 by AS Saint-Etienne and OGC Nice narrowlly gave up their home game to Rennes 1-2.