Clermont Foot score 96th-minute equaliser as Toulouse give up two-goal lead in Ligue 1 thriller

Clermont denied Toulouse a return to winning ways with a stoppage-time equaliser in a thrilling 2-2 Ligue 1 draw on Sunday.

It has been an inconsistent start to the season from Toulouse. A strong performance against Nantes yielded three points on the opening day, while there is no shame in a draw against PSG, but the 2-0 defeat to Strasbourg in their last match raised some concerns.

Those concerns seemed unfounded as the hosts raced into an early lead.

Les Violets took the lead in the eighth minute when a bad slip by a Clermont defender meant that a Gabriel Suazo free kick which should have been cleared fell straight to Zakaria Aboukhlal, who converted.

Toulouse doubled their lead in the 14th minute when Frank Magri whipped an unstoppable shot past Clermont keeper Mory Diaw to cap a speedy counter.

Goalkeeper Guillaume Restes gave Clermont a way back into the match when he was ruled to have fouled Mehdi Zeffane in the area. The subsequent penalty was converted by Grejohn Kyei in the 34th minute.

Clermont were dominating possession but meandered with the ball while Toulouse broke with purpose and constantly seemed the more likely to score.

By contrast, Clermont were frustrated into shooting from long range.

Muhammed Cham came close to a late equaliser, but pushed his shot wide as Toulouse held on into stoppage time.

In the 96th minute, a Clermont free-kick into the Toulouse box was not cleared and proceeded to ping pong around as defenders and attackers scrambled for the ball.

After 16 seconds of chaos, Florent Ogier swept it home to equalise for the visitors as they salvaged a point from two goals down.

Later on Sunday, there were wins for Nice, Montpellier and Le Havre, while Metz drew with Reims.

A Youcef Atal stunner helped Nice to a 2-0 win over Strasbourg, with Terem Moffi scored 15 minutes before the end of regulation time. The result leaves Nice in seventh, a place above Strasbourg on goal difference, on six points.

Metz and Reims drew 2-2 in north-eastern France. Cheikh Sabaly put the home side ahead after seven minutes but Oumar Diakite levelled 10 minutes later. Seven minutes after the restart, Teddy Teuma had the away side ahead, but on 63 minutes Abile Jallow equalised for the home side.

Lille welcomed Montpellier to the Stade Pierre-Mauray and Yusuf Yazici scored the only goal of the game after two minutes. Lille sit fourth and Montpellier are 14th.

Meanwhile, Le Havre enjoyed an easy win against Lorient as three second-half goals earned the away side victory.

Daier Kuzyayev, Nabil Alioul and Nolan Mbembe built a 3-0 lead for the north coast side. Le Havre are now ninth while Lorient are mid-table in 11th.

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