Football news - Late penalty gives Lille share of points against Reims

An injury-time goal from Nicolas Pepe salvaged a point for Lille at home to Reims on Sunday in another day of depleted French league action.

Only four of the 10 Ligue 1 matches scheduled for this weekend took place, with the other six postponed due to protests against increases in fuel tax and rising living costs.

Saturday's match between league leaders Paris St Germain and third-place Montpellier was one of the casualties, as was Friday's south-coast derby between Monaco and Nice.

That opened the way for second-place Lille to put some distance between themselves and the teams behind them but it took a penalty from Pepe, his sixth from the spot this season, to get them a point.

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Remi Oudin put the visitors ahead 19 minutes into the second half when he scored from close range after good work by Alaixys Romao on the left.

Luiz De Araujo au duel avec Ghislain Konan lors de Lille-Reims / Ligue 1

Image credit: Getty Images

But Pepe got his 11th goal of the season deep into injury time to level the score.

It was a cruel blow to Reims, who had hardly put a foot wrong against the higher-placed club.

In the day's only other game, visitors Caen trailed Strasbourg twice but came back both times to secure a 2-2 draw.

The result lifted Strasbourg into eighth, while Caen, who have not won in 10 league games, moved a point clear of second-from-bottom club Monaco, who have a game in hand.

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