Batlles saves Marseille after Nakata's nightmare

Marseille's forward Laurent Battles (C) is congratulated by his teammates after scoring a goal during their French L1 football match Marseille-Paris Saint Germain at the Velodrome stadium in Marseille. The match ended in a 1-1 draw.

Japan international defender Koji Nakata endured a wretched second appearance for his new club Marseille with an own goal against bitter rivals Paris Saint Germain.

But Marseille's blushes were saved when Laurent Batlles came up with an equaliser for a 1-1 draw which brought to an end PSG's run of eight straight wins against the south coast giants.

Nakata joined Marseille this winter in a move which reunited him with his former Japan coach Philippe Troussier.

And he will be hoping his fortunes improve after his botched clearance gifted PSG a 46th minute lead.

The second half was only seconds old when PSG went on the attack with Danijel Ljuboja streaking down the left to fire a low angled shot into the box where the hapless Nakata toed it past Fabian Barthez.

Nakata has had a forgettable start to his new life in France, this error coming on the back of last month's debut when Marseille went down 2-0 to Monaco.

But Marseille were back level in the 74th minute when substitute Samir Nasri set up Batlles who blasted the ball past PSG keeper Lionel Letizi.

The Velodrome had had to wait until the final minute for the best slice of action of the first half.

A nicely weighted corner from Jerome Rothen was headed on by Mario Yepes to Edouard Cisse lurking unamrked in front of goal, but his acrobatic right footed volley flew over the crossbar.

The draw left Marseille level with Lille on 52 points, 13 adrift of runaway leaders Lyon, but Lille inherit second place thanks to their superior goal difference helped considerably by Saturday's 8-0 thrashing of bottom club Istres.

Lille killed off Istres with five minutes of mayhem in the first half when Matt Moussilou bagged a hat-trick. The 22-year-old attacker added a fourth for good measure after the break.

Moussilou's four-timer was accompanied by goals from Mathieu Bodmer and a double from Philippe Brunel with an own goal from Brahim Thiam adding insult to injury.

Monaco slipped a place to fourth after their shock 3-0 defeat at Ajaccio, for whom the result did their chances of staying in the top flight a world of good.

The Corsican club moved out of danger into fourth from bottom, two points above the drop zone.

Lyon's slender margin win over Lens, courtesy of a 64th minute strike by Juninho, gave them a timely confidence booster ahead of Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final date against PSV Eindhoven.

"It's been a good night," smiled Lyon coach Paul Le Guen.

Juninho added: "I reckon we need another three wins before claiming ourselves as champions again."

French league table after Sunday's match (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):