Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe won a record fifth straight French golden boot on Saturday wh🌊ile Rennes clinched a Europa League spot and Auxerre was relegated.
Mbappe’s goal in a 3-2 loss to Clermont finished his𝓡 league tally on 29 and made him the top scorer for the fifth time, tied with French great Jean-Pierre Papin and retired Argentine strikers Carlos Bianchi and Delio Onnis.
French champions PSG and second-placed Lens qualified for the group stage of the Champions🍨 League next season and third-placed Marseille earne𓃲d a spot in the third qualifying round of the lucrative European competition.
Rennes edged Brest 2-1 with first-half goals from Benjamin Bourigeaud to leapfrog Lille into fourth place♛.
Lille booked a playoff spot for the Europa Conference League after drawing with Troyes 1-1. B🌼afode Diakite opened the scoring for Lille in the second half and Troyes winger Rony Lopes equalized.
Monaco was third in the previous two seasons but missed out on European football after losing to Toulouse 2-1 to finish sixth. Toulouse substitute Rhys Healey scored the winner in stoppage time. After 34 rounds, Monaco had a five-point lead over Lille and was eight points clear of Rennes. But Monaco collapsed during the run-in with just one point from th༒e last four games.
“Everybody’s disappointed,” Monaco coac🐓h Philippe Clement told Canal Plus television. “In the last few weeks, the results and the level we𓆉re not good enough. In the end, I know that everybody looks at the coach.”
PSG finished only one point clear of Lens after the home loss to Clermont, which also marked Lionel Messi’s farewell match for t🌄he club. Messi was booed before kickoff.
PSG led 2-0 after a header from the departing Sergio Ramos and a penalty from Mbappe. Mbappe celebrated by holding up a shirt with Sergio Rico’s nꦐame on it. Rico, the PSG backup goalkeeper, was ꦓseriously injured after getting hit by a loose horse in Spain last Sunday.
Clermont leveled before halftime with goals from Johan Gatien and Mehdඣi Zeffane. Grejohn Kyei scored the winner by converting a cross in the 63rd.
“We really needed to pay a tribute to Sergio,” Mbappe told Canal Plus television. “I think we are all affe🃏cted. It’s a situation which is extremely grave. That was on our mind the whole week. We will pray, we🦋 will send a maximum of positive vibes so that he can get out of that situation as quickly as possible.”
Cameroon forward Ignatius Ganago helped former 𒉰powerhouse Nantes stay up by netting the lone goal in a 1-0 win over Angers.
Nantes snapped a 14-game winless streak in the league to leapfrog🍸 Auxerre into 16th place.
Auxerre lost to Lens 3-1 and ꧙will be demot꧑ed to the second division alongside Angers, Ajaccio and Troyes. Four teams are relegated because the league will shrink from 20 clubs to 18 next season. Lens midfielder Alexis Claude-Maurice scored twice before Belgium international Lois Openda sealed the win.
Elsewhere, Cꦑlement Vidal scored in Ajaccio’s 1-0 win over Marseille.
Lyon s🧸triker Alexandre Lacazette failed to find the net in a 3-1 loss at Nice, fi𝔍nishing with 27 goals as the second best scorer.
“It’s flattering to be not that far from Kylian,” Lacazette said. “I congratulate him for his season. And I’m happy because very few people th🎃ought that I was able of doing that on my return to Lyon.”
Montpellier beat Reims 3-1. Reims striker Folarin Balogun scored a consolation to raise his tally to 21 in his breakthrough season. Bor🉐n in New York🦩, Balogun played for England at youth level but opted to play for the United States at senior level in May.
Also Lorient beat Strasbourg 2-1.
