Lyon held to goalless draw at Marseille, Nice still unbeaten

Marseille's Bouna Sarr (C) in action against Lyon's Jordan Ferri and Sergi Darder (R) at the State Velodrome, Sept 18, 2016. [Photo/VCG]

PARIS - Lyon were held to a goalless draw by struggling Marseille to miss out on the chance to go fifth in Ligue 1 at the Stade Velodrome on Sunday, while Nice kept remained undefeated at Montpellier.

Sergi Darder scored a superb bottom-corner finish from 18 meters away in the 34th minute for Lyon, but Maxwel Cornet's interference from an offside position denied Les Gones the opener.

After the first-half goal was controversially ruled out, Lyon stayed the more threatening team between the two sides, but failed to bring an end to a run of two consecutive league defeats.

With the 0-0 draw, Lyon and Marseille slightly slipped on the Ligue 1 table, moving to ninth and 15th places respectively.

Also on Sunday, Nice preserved their unbeaten start to the 2016-2017 season with a 1-1 draw at Montpellier.

Ryad Boudebouz's penalty put the hosts in front on 66 minutes after Malang Sarr was adjudged to have handled in the area, before Younes Belhanda grabbed a late equalizer to help Lucien Favre's men escape La Mosson with a point.

Thanks to the tie, Nice moved up to the second position to limp over the defending champions Paris Saint-Germain, while Montpellier remain 12th.

In the other Sunday game, Saint-Etienne snatched a 1-0 win over Bastia as substitute Romain Hamouma scored a stoppage-time penalty.

Saint-Etienne now lie in eighth place while Bastia stay 11th.