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Monaco will have to wait before celebrating their first title for a decade after the French league leaders drew at home with Marseille on Saturday.

A header from Sylvain Legwinski after 62 minutes allowed Monaco to share the points and take a 12-point lead over second-placed Paris St Germain.

However, it will not be enough for Monaco to be mathematically certain of collecting their first crown since 1988 if the Parisians beat bottom-of-the-table Nice on Sunday.

A win would almost have done the job. But Monaco had to fight back from one goal down after Xavier Gravelaine opened the scoring after 35 minutes and the league leaders missed too many chances in the second half.

Midfielder Ali Benarbia, for one, found himself on his own in front of an empty goal with three minutes left, but shot wide.

''Now we must win in Strasbourg, or against Caen, but the most important thing was not to lose after a very hard match a couple of days ago,'' said coach Jean Tigana.

In the first half, Monaco - looking a little weary after their 10th UEFA Cup match, second leg semi final against Internazionale on Tuesday - did not look like a team in sight of a title.

They dominated for half an hour, but to little effect, and a fine shot from Brazilian Sonny Anderson in the twenty-first minute was Monaco's only real chance.

Keeper Jerome Alonzo standing in for Marseille's injured German international Andreas Koepke made a fine save.

Marseille then took the game to Monaco and Bulgaria's Yordan Lechkov was ideally placed on the right side of the box in the 31 minutes, but he crossed to Marc Libbra instead of shooting.

Four minutes later veteran Bernard Ferrer broke through Monaco's defence and launched Gravelaine behind the backs. The striker had only to dribble past goalkeeper Fabien Barthez to score from the left.

Things improved for Monaco in the second half and after 17 minutes of constant pressure Legwinski nodded home from a corner taken by Benarbia.

The goal gave Monaco a lift and they kept up the pressure until the final whistle. But Alonzo kept them at bay.

Strasbourg's former PSG striker, Pascal Nouma, hit all four of his side's goals as they won 4-1 at Montpellier, ending the home team's 12-game unbeaten run in the league.

Nantes, who needed a late penalty by Jocelyn Gourvennec to extend their unbeaten run to 27 games with a 1-1 draw against Caen at home, pulled level with PSG on points and climbed into second place on goal difference.

qBayern Munich restored their three-point lead at the top of the German Bundesliga on Saturday when thrashing struggling Fortuna Duesseldorf 5-0.

European Cup finalists Bor-ussia Dortmund, missing a clutch of first-team players, saw their hopes of a third successive title finally buried with a 2-0 away defeat by Arminia Bielefeld.

With five matches remaining Bayern now look to have only Bayer Leverkusen, 2-1 home winners over Werder Bremen on Friday, to worry about.

VfB Stuttgart had to wait until the 90th minute when substitute Sreto Ristic headed the winner against Borussia Moenchengladbach to ensure their challenge for second place, and an outside chance of the title.

Bochum look certain to qualify for the UEFA Cup after coming from behind to beat relegation certainties Freiburg 3-2. Results:

Portugal: Farense 1, Benfica 2; Maritimo 0, Porto 2.

Austria: Linzer ASK 1, Casino Graz 0; Sturm Graz 1, FC Linz 0; SV Ried 2, Austria Vienna 1; Rapid Vienna 3; FC Tirol Innsbruck 0.

France: Metz 1, Auxerre 0; Lyon 4, Bastia 2; Le Havre 1, Rennes 1; Lens 1, Lille 0; Cannes 1, Bordeaux 1; Monaco 1, Marseille 1; Montpellier 1, Strasbourg 4; Nantes 1, Caen 1; Guingamp 0, Nancy 1.

Holland: Roda JC Kerkrade 4, RKC Waalwijk 0; NEC Nijmegen 0, Willem II Tilburg 0.