Third-placed Bordeaux moved to within three points of French Ligue 1 leaders Lyon with a 2-1 victory over Nice. Laurent Blanc's side cranked up the pressure at the top thanks to goals in each half from Marouane Chamakh (18) and Carlos Henrique (47). Habib Bamogo's penalty in the 23rd minute had levelled things up but Bordeaux did just enough to keep their title bid on track. Toulouse missed the chance to move into fourth place after twice throwing away the lead in their 3-2 defeat at Monaco. Igor Lolo scored a dramatic winner in injury time for the hosts, the Ivorian converting the easiest of chances after Toulouse had twice been ahead through Andre-Pierre Gignac and Mauro Cetto.
Frederic Niami and Francois-Joseph Modesto equalised for Monaco before their last-gasp joy. Sporting Lisbon closed the gap on Porguese Liga leaders Porto to a single point with a 2-0 victory over strugglers Rio Ave. Joao Moutinho (22) and Fabio Rochemback (45) did the damage against Rio Ave, who also had Bruno Mendes dismissed on the stroke of half-time. Benfica missed the chance to move to the top of the table as they slipped to a 1-0 loss at home to Guimaraes.
FC Twente extended their unbeaten run to 17 games with a 2-0 win at Willem II which strengthens their hold on second place in the Dutch Eredivisie. Goals at either end of the game from Blaise Nkufo and Marko Arnautovic secured victory against a Willem II side who were forced to shut their youth academy last week due to financial worries. Heerenveen moved to third after they demolished Sparta 5-1 with their opponents' painful afternoon compounded as they ended the game with nine men following two sendings-off.
Arne Slot put the hosts ahead before Patrick Ingelsten and a Roy Beerens spot-kick secured a three-goal lead. Edouard Duplan pulled one back with four minutes to go but two goals in two minutes from Michal Svec and Bonaventure Kalou completed a comprehensive victory as Heerenveen leapfrogged Ajax to go third behind leaders AZ Alkmaar and FC Twente. * With agencies
