Monaco beat Lille to boost Champions League hopes and delay PSG's title party

Monaco edged past Lille 1-0 on Wednesday night to take a big step towards next season's Champions League and postpone Paris Saint-Germain's title celebrations.

Monaco went into the clash at the Stade Louis II knowing that a stalemate would allow PSG to claim the crown after the pacesetters had thrashed Lorient 4-1 in the night's early kick-off.

For the first hour of the game, PSG were preparing the champagne but Monaco midfielder Youssouf Fofana latched onto a loose ball at the edge of the Lille penalty area and flashed a shot past the Lille goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier.

It was the France international's third goal of the season. Wissam Ben Yedder should have made it 2-0 for the hosts in the 69th minute when he was put through with only Chevalier to beat but the striker fluffed his attempt to dribble around the goalkeeper.

Monaco held on to secure the victory which keeps them second with 58 points. Adi Hutter's men boast a five-point lead over Brest while Lille lie in fourth with 52 points with four games remaining.

Time

PSG's France internationals Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé – who were both rested for last Sunday's 4-1 romp past Lyon at the Parc des Princes – returned to the starting line-up for the trip to Lorient.

And both stars bagged a brace as their side won 4-1 for the third successive game. Dembélé opened the scoring at the Stade du Moustoir in the 19th minute and Mbappé doubled the advantage three minutes later.

Dembélé bagged his brace on the hour mark to effectively seal the game. And after Mohamed Bamba had reduced the deficit, Mbappé added the gloss with his second in the closing minutes.

PSG, who notched up a Ligue 1 record with their 22nd away game unbeaten, will claim a record 12th top flight title with victory over Le Havre on Saturday night at the Parc des Princes.

"It wasn't straightforward to play in these circumstances because I made a lot of changes to the side that started against Lyon,"  PSG boss Luis Enrique told broadcaster Amazon Prime.

"But the whole team is working and it's going well, so of course I'm happy."

PSG remain on course for an unprecedented quadruple.

In January, Enrique steered the side to theFrench Super Cup with a 2-0 cruise past the Coupe de France winners Toulouse. PSG play Lyon in the final of the Coupe de France on 25 May and take on Borussia Dortmund in the semi-final of theChampions League.