Nice holds Lille to 2-2 draw in French league

NICE, France (AP) -- Nice held a much-changed Lille side to a 2-2 draw in the French league at the Stade du Ray on Saturday.

Dimitri Payet put Lille ahead in the 36th minute but Nemanja Pejcinovic leveled shortly before the break.

Eric Bautheac gave hosts Nice the lead in the 55th before Djibril Sidibe equalized four minutes later.

Elsewhere, Bastia missed the chance to claim sole leadership of the Ligue 1 standings as it lost 3-2 at Rennes.

Valenciennes is joint top - ahead of Sunday's games - after beating Ajaccio 3-0.

Nice was looking for its first win of the season following a defeat and a draw, while Lille opted to rest several key players ahead of the return leg of its Champions League playoff tie against Copenhagen.

Goalkeeper Mickael Landreau was the standout performer for Lille.

Nice could have taken the lead as early as the 13th minute when Alexy Bosetti beat the offside trap and found himself one-on-one with Landreau who was up to the challenge.

Landreau pulled off several fine stops before Lille took the lead against the run of play thanks to Payet. However, Lille's lead lasted just seven minutes when Pejcinovic fired in Bosetti's free kick at the far post.

Nice went in front shortly after the break when Bautheac put a long ball from Camel Meriem past Landreau.

Its advantage didn't last long either as Sidibe fired a diagonal shot past Nice goalkeeper Joris Delle.

Francois Marque and Sylvain Marchal leveled for Bastia after Romain Alessandrini and Jonathan Pitroipa had twice put Rennes in front.

However, Bastia had Brazilian striker Ilan sent off shortly before the second equalizer and Rennes' numerical advantage eventually told as Mevlut Erdinc scored the winner six minutes from time.

Valenciennes shares the early league lead along with Lyon and Toulouse after goals from Mamadou Samassa and Loris Nery and an own goal from David Oberhauser. Ajaccio had Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi sent off in the first half for a two-footed challenge.

Toulouse beat Nancy 1-0, with Moussa Sissoko scoring the only goal of the game. Nancy captain Andre Luiz was sent off shortly after the break.

Elsewhere, Lorient twice came back from a goal down to draw 2-2 at Troyes.

Benjamin Nivet and Mounir Obbadi scored for Troyes as Maxime Barthelme leveled the first time before Arnold Mvuemba scored from the spot.

A stoppage-time own goal from Sochaux striker Sloan Privat gave Reims a 1-0 win. Sochaux also had Sebastien Corchia sent off in the first half for a second bookable offense.

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