Mario Balotelli scored as Nice beat nine-man Paris St-Germain

Mario Balotelli scored as Nice beat nine-man Paris St-Germain to leave Monaco firmly in the driving seat for their first Ligue 1 title for 17 years.

The former Liverpool striker fired the hosts into the lead before Ricardo Pereira doubled the lead.

Marquinhos pulled one back but Thiago Motta was dismissed for clashing with Paul Baysse before Anastasios Donis made it 3-1.

Angel Di Maria was shown a straight red for a challenge on Arnaud Souquet.

Victory for Nice sees them move three points behind second-placed PSG, who had won their previous eight league games to keep their title chances alive.

But Leonardo Jardim's Monaco, who have a game in hand over PSG, require seven points from their last four games to be crowned champions of France for the first time since 2000.

Hat-trick for Newcastle's Thauvin

Florian Thauvin scored a hat-trick as Marseille won 5-1 away at Caen to keep alive their hopes of playing in next season's Europa League.

The French forward, who is on loan from Newcastle United, scored in the second, 63rd and 89th minutes against the relegation-threatened hosts.

The 24-year-old has scored 15 goals in 35 Ligue 1 games since moving to France last August.

Marseille are sixth in Ligue 1, one point behind fifth-placed Bordeaux with three games remaining.

A fifth-placed finish will secure a place in the Europa League third qualifying round.

Stand French League

		Team	P	GD	Pts
1		Monaco	34	66	83
2		Paris St G	35	46	80
3		Nice	35	30	77
4		Lyon	34	26	57
5		Bordeaux	35	10	56
6		Marseille	35	14	55
7		Saint-Étienne	34	8	49
8		Nantes	35	-13	48
9		Rennes	35	-7	44
10		Guingamp	35	-9	44
11		Lille	35	-4	43
12		Toulouse	35	-3	42
13		Montpellier	35	-13	39
14		Angers	35	-13	39
15		Metz	35	-34	39
16		Lorient	35	-24	34
17		Dijon	35	-10	33
18		Caen	35	-29	33
19		Nancy	35	-20	32
20		Bastia	34	-21	31

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BBC

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