Lille, France – Sochaux scored three goals in the final 11 minutes of play to salvage a point in a wild 3-3 draw with Lille at the Grand Stade Lille Metropole on Friday.
Lille had the better of the play early on and opened the scoring in the 26th minute when Salomon Kalou latched onto a pass from Ronny Rodelin outside the penalty area and ripped it past Sochaux goalkeeper Simon Pouplin to give his club the lead.
Kalou claimed his second tally of the match right on the stroke of halftime when he beat Pouplin to the top left corner of the net following a well-placed pass from Marvin Martin.
Three minutes into the second half, Lille added a third goal when Marko Basa got his head to a free kick in the box and nodded it past Pouplin for the seemingly insurmountable 3-0 lead.
Sochaux started its comeback in the 79th minute when Cedric Kante got one past Lille goalkeeper Steeve Elana with a left-footed strike from a difficult angle.
Kante's goal shifted the momentum to Sochaux and Vincent Nogueira capitalized when he scored goals in the 84th and 86th minutes to rescue a point for Sochaux in dramatic fashion.
Sochaux improves to 34 points from 34 matches, but remain in the bottom three on goal difference, while Lille sits in fifth place on 57 points.
The weekend's marquee Ligue 1 action will take place on Sunday as three of the league's top four clubs will all be in action.
League leaders Paris Saint-Germain highlight Sunday's slate as Les Parisiens will travel to the Parc des Sports to tangle with Evian.
PSG finds itself nine points clear at the top of the table and riding an impressive six-match unbeaten run in league play, but could be without star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who missed training on Friday due to illness.
Brazilian midfielder Lucas is also in doubt after missing Friday's session with an ankle injury.
Also on Sunday, third-place Lyon will attempt to cut into PSG's sizable lead when the club hosts fourth-place St. Etienne at the Stade de Gerland.
Clement Grenier netted a match-winner in the third minute of stoppage time last week to hand Lyon a 2-1 win over Montpellier and they will take their positive momentum on the road in search of their third consecutive win.
After securing a comfortable 4-2 win over Ajaccio last week, Les Verts will aim for their third straight league win, which would vault them over Lyon into the top three.
Sixth-place Nice will be hoping for a rebound performance against bottom-of- the-table Troyes after suffering a 3-0 loss to PSG last time out.
On Saturday, second-place Marseille will shoot for its third win in four matches when the club hosts Lorient at the Stade du Moustoir, while Ajaccio hosts defending champions Montpellier at the Stade Francois Coty.
Bastia hosts Toulouse looking to avoid a third straight defeat, while Bordeaux tries to extend its unbeaten run in Ligue 1 to three straight against Reims
Saturday's schedule wraps up with Brest taking on Rennes at the Stade Francis- Le Ble, while Valenciennes tangles with relegation-battling Nancy, which is just one point clear of the drop zone, at the Stade du Hainaut.
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