Cesar lifts tired Lille

An own-goal from Grenoble defender Bostjan Cesar lifted tired Lille to provisional fourth in the French first division on Sunday.

Three days after beating Liverpool 1-0 in the Europa League round of 16 first leg, Lille were lucky to come away winners against tailenders Grenoble at their Villeneuve d’Ascq stadium.

Rudi Garcia’s side are provisionally fourth with 51 points, two points behind leaders Bordeaux and Montpellier who both drew on Saturday.

Rennes moved up to eighth after coming away with a 2-0 win over midtable Valenciennes, with Marseille looking to join the top three when they travel to Toulouse later on Sunday.

Lille suffered another injury blow ahead of Thursday’s trip to Anfield when new Portuguese signing Ricardo Costa suffered a left ankle injury to join Gervinho, Mathieu Debuchy and Tulio De Melo on the injured list.

In an effort to save some players ahead of their bid to qualify for a first quarter-final in a European competition, Garcia left Ludovic Obraniak, Yohan Cabaye and Emerson on the bench.

Emerson was however called upon to replace Costa.

Lille were far from the form they showed against Liverpool but nevertheless dominated despite creating few chances, before Cesar helped their cause when he turned in a centre from Emerson into his own net after 47 minutes.

Grenoble’s 20th loss of the season leaves them certain of the drop.

On Saturday, Lyon crashed back to earth as they missed their chance to join the leading group, being held to a 1-1 draw at home to local rivals St. Etienne.

The former seven-time champions were a long way from their mid-week heroics at the Santiago Bernabeu when they sealed a 2-1 aggregate win over Spanish giants Real Madrid in the Champions League.

A first half goal from striker Emmanuel Riviere put 17th-placed St. Etienne ahead with the hosts having to wait until 80 minutes for the equaliser from Argentinian striker Lisandro Lopez.

Leaders Bordeaux missed a chance to pull ahead with a goalless draw at Monaco, as fellow challengers Montpellier and Auxerre played out a 1-1 draw.

Bordeaux remain top with 53 points after 27 games, with a game in hand on Montpellier, who also have 53, with Auxerre just a point behind in third.

Lyon are fifth with 51 points after 28 games.

Meanwhile, Paris Saint Germain put their woes behind them with a Mevlut Erding hat-trick inspiring them to a 4-1 home win over Sochaux.

Guillaume Hoarau opened for PSG after 17 minutes before Erding doubled a minute later against his former side, with the Turkish striker claiming his second after 35 minutes.

Ryad Boudebouz got one back for Sochaux after 63 minutes when he stepped up to take a penalty, but Erding found the net again five minutes later.

Elsewhere, second-from-bottom Boulogne shocked Nancy 3-1, as relegation-threatened Nice – who sacked coach Didier Olle-Nicolle earlier in the week – came away with a 1-0 win against Le Mans with Lorient beating Lens by the same scoreline.