Machado’s late header gives Lens 2-1 win at Le Havre as French league leader PSG faces Saint-Etienne
PARIS (AP) — Deiver Machado scored late as seventh-place Lens won 2-1 at struggling Le Havre in the French league on Sunday to move one point behind Lyon in sixth.
The Colombia defender headed powerfully home from Poland winger Przemyslaw Frankowski’s cross in the 77th minute.
Central defender Abdukodir Khusanov was left out of the Lens squad amid reports of an imminent big-money transfer to Premier League defending champion Manchester City reportedly worth 50 million euros ($51 million).
The 20-year-old joined Lens on a four-year contract last season, becoming the first Uzbek to play in Ligue 1. Lens paid just 100,000 euros ($110,000) to sign him from Belarus club Energetik-BGU Minsk.
Veteran winger Andre Ayew put Le Havre ahead in the eighth minute, scoring for the second straight game following his goal against Marseille last weekend.
Striker Goduine Koyalipou equalized in the 28th with a header on debut after joining on Thursday.
Le Havre has lost five straight league games and is in 17th spot.
Later Sunday, unbeaten leader Paris Saint-Germain hosted struggling Saint-Etienne.
Elsewhere, improving Strasbourg climbed into ninth place with a 2-1 win at Toulouse in a match where video reviews affected both sides, and rock-bottom Montpellier had two players sent off near the end of a 3-1 home loss to Angers.
Dutch striker Emanuel Emegha scored two first-half goals for Strasbourg and then had a third ruled out for offside in the 38th minute.
Toulouse scored from Ismaël Doukouré’s own-goal in the 35th and, in the 75th, striker Zakaria Aboukhlal prepared to take a penalty to make it 2-2 after being fouled. However, the referee changed his mind following a video review and instead awarded Toulouse a free kick right on the edge of the area.
More frustration followed for the home side moments later.
Toulouse thought it had equalized when Frank Magri side-footed in Aboukhlal’s pinpoint cross from the left. But VAR intervened again to rule the goal out because United States defender Mark McKenzie was narrowly offside.
Forward Esteban Lepaul netted twice as Angers moved up to 13th place. He scored in each half, either side of a penalty from Montpellier midfielder Téji Savanier.
Montpellier lost its composure in the closing stages when defender Boubakar Kouyaté and captain Jordan Ferri were sent off within one minute of each other.
Midfielder Zinedine Ferhat added the third goal for Angers in the ninth minute of stoppage time. ___
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