Nice (France) (AFP) - Lille passed up the opportunity to go into the top three in Ligue 1 after a 96th-minute equaliser by Nice held them to a 2-2 draw on Sunday, while Lyon downed historic rivals Saint-Etienne.

Tom Louchet slotted home deep in injury time to deny the visitors a win that would have taken them above Marseille and into the automatic Champions League qualification spots.

Lille led twice in the match but were pegged back on both occasions by Nice, who now have five draws in their 11 league outings and are yet to lose at home this season.

“We deserved to take home all three points,” said Lille coach Bruno Genesio.

“But when you don’t do enough to win, you can get caught out… Maybe what happened to us was deserved,” he added.

Matias Fernandez-Pardo broke the deadlock inside the opening 20 minutes, before Sofiane Diop levelled early in the second period.

Mitchel Bakker sent the Dogues back in front after the hour but Nice struck back in the final moments to keep Lille fourth on 19 points.

Nice are two places behind them in the table on 17, after a stuttering start to the campaign.

Fernandez-Pardo opened the scoring in the 17th minute when he whipped a shot past Marcin Bulka at his near post following a marauding run up the left flank.

Nice dominated possession for the rest of the half but did not make it count as half-time substitute Diop levelled 11 minutes after his introduction.

Bakker restored Lille’s advantage on 66 minutes with a swept finish after Benjamin Andre showed good composure to pick him out in the box as his earlier effort came straight back off the post to him.

With the clock ticking down and Lille seemingly set for victory and to leapfrog Marseille into third, Nice loaded the box for a set-piece in one last desperate attempt to get something from the game.

The ball narrowly cleared Nice goalkeeper Bulka’s head as he attempted to get on the scoresheet and ricocheted to Louchet on the edge of the box, who fired across goal and into the bottom corner to snatch a draw.

- Bragging rights for Lyon -

Alexandre Lacazette scored the only goal as Lyon won “Le Derby” 1-0 against their fierce southeastern rivals Saint-Etienne.

The Lyon captain and academy graduate kneed the ball into the goal from close range on 29 minutes after a corner had ping-ponged around the visitors’ box.

A goalkeeping error nearly allowed Lyon to make the game safe with nine minutes remaining as Gautier Larsonneur dallied on the ball and Georges Mikautadze closed him down before Ernest Nuamah stroked home.

However, a VAR review showed the Georgian blocked the clearance with his arm and the strike was chalked off to keep Les Verts alive.

Saint-Etienne failed to really trouble the hosts as the match crept towards its conclusion and they eventually succumbed to their seventh defeat in Ligue 1.

Saint-Etienne have struggled on their return to the top flight after winning promotion via the play-off last term and stay 16th on 10 points.

Lyon’s fifth win of the season moves them up to fifth place, one point ahead of Nice.

Elsewhere, Reims joined Nice on 17 points with a 3-0 victory at 17th-placed Le Havre.

Oumar Diakite and Keito Nakamura scored inside six first-half minutes and Junya Ito added a third in the 57th minute.

Bottom-of-the-table Montpellier got a much-needed 3-1 win at home to Brest, who have struggled to recreate their excellent Champions League form domestically.

Toulouse moved up to 10th with a 2-0 win at Rennes who said they were close to appointing Jorge Sampaoli as coach, with the former Argentina and Chile boss watching from the stands.

“Discussions with Sampaoli are well advanced… We think that we’ll be able to have some news on this subject very quickly,” sporting director Frederic Massara told DAZN.