Big-spending Paris Saint-Germain have failed to win for the first time under new coach Carlo Ancelotti after being held to a 0-0 draw at struggling Nice.
The draw say PSG’s lead in the French league trimmed to one point on Sunday.
Although PSG remains unbeaten under Ancelotti, it showed little creativity and created few scoring chances in a scrappy game against a resilient Nice team that gained an important point in its battle against relegation.
PSG, which has spent over 100 million euros ($A124.06 million) on players this season, are now just one point ahead of Montpellier’s relatively cheaply assembled team featuring several players who came through the youth ranks.
PSG could be overtaken at the top if they lose at home to Montpellier next Sunday, and they also play at Dijon in the French Cup on Wednesday.
“It’s going to be an important week for us,” Ancelotti said.
Ancelotti won his first five matches in charge since replacing Antoine Kombouare last month but had little to be happy about as he watched Brazilian winger Nene fluff a late chance to win the game.
“We had a few problems,” Ancelotti said.
“Nice stood up to us well, and their midfield was good, so it’s a logical result.”
The Italian coach, who gave former Chelsea defender Alex his club debut in the center of defense, replaced striker Kevin Gameiro with Guillaume Hoarau in the 60th minute, but it failed to spark PSG’s attack.
“We shouldn’t be too downbeat, we still picked up a point,” said PSG goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu, who had to be alert to save efforts from wingers Anthony Mounier and Fabrice Abriel in each half.
“We’re still in first place.”
In Sunday’s late game, Saint-Etienne won 1-0 at Toulouse, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who scored three goals for Gabon at the African Cup of Nations, getting a second-half winner.
Earlier, Ludovic Obraniak punished his former team by scoring the winner in injury time to give Bordeaux a wild 5-4 win at defending champion Lille – who stay in third place despite the loss, but is now 10 points behind Montpellier and 11 behind PSG. Saint-Etienne’s win moved them up to seventh place, and within two points of Marseille.
“It was intense,” Obranik said.
“I really wanted to have a good match and to show Lille that they were wrong not to believe in me.”
Bordeaux were 4-1 ahead in the second half but winger Eden Hazard and right-back Mathieu Debuchy pulled goals back before striker Nolan Roux scored in the 90th minute to make it 4-4.
But Obraniak, who joined Bordeaux from Lille in January, smacked a cross from Gregory Sertic past goalkeeper Mickael Landreau to seal a remarkable win with his second goal of the match.
“A coach can’t be happy when his defense is wide open like that,” an irate Lille coach Rudi Garcia said after the team’s fourth loss in the last six games in all competitions.
“We have to find a balance quickly. We have to win games and that’s twice in a week now that we haven’t been able to.”
On Saturday, striker Olivier Giroud’s 16th goal helped Montpellier beat Ajaccio 3-0 to stay in the title hunt.
Winger Nicolas Maurice-Belay also got two goals and gave Bordeaux the lead in the second minute after Landreau saved a shot from Obraniak and he followed up to score.
Lille equalised shortly after through defender David Rozehnal, who scored at the second attempt after goalkeeper Cedric Carrasso had pushed his header straight back to him.
In a frantic start to the game, Obraniak made it 2-1 in the 17th minute when Maurice-Belay combined with Yoan Gouffran to release Obraniak, who beat Landreau with a powerful left-footed shot from just inside the penalty area.
Maurice-Belay made it 3-1 five minutes after the restart, when he went clean through and calmly rolled the ball past Landreau, and Gouffran got Bordeaux’s fourth goal in the 60th when he met Jaroslav Plasil’s cross from the right.
Lille looked completely out of the running, but Hazard reduced the deficit in the 65th when his cleanly-struck free-kick went through the wall and found the bottom corner.
Debuchy then gave Lille hope when he controlled Rio Mavuba’s pass and volleyed past Carrasso to make it 4-3 in the 75th and Roux sent the home fans wild when he equalised in the 90th.
Hazard’s pass released Benoit Pedretti, and he in turn found Roux, who profited from defender Michael Ciani to score with a firm strike.
All of Roux’s four goals since joining Lille from Brest last month have been scored in the last five minutes of games.