Montpellier, France (SportsNetwork.com) - M'baye Niang's second-half tally saved a point for Montpellier on Friday in a 1-1 stalemate with Monaco at the Stade de la Mosson.
Both clubs got back on the winning track with Coupe de France wins in midweek following a break in league play for the winter holidays and neither side could create many quality scoring chances as they went into break scoreless.
But Monaco opened the scoring in the 52nd minute with some set-piece magic when James Rodriguez whipped a well-struck free kick into the penalty area where Layvin Kurzawa got a powerful header away that floated over the outstretched arm of Montpellier goalkeeper Geoffrey Jourdren.
Montpellier was tossed a lifeline with 22 minutes to play when Remy Cabella worked his way into the Monaco penalty area and was dragged down by Eric Abidal, resulting in a penalty kick.
Niang stepped to the spot and blasted his penalty straight at Monaco goalkeeper Danijel Subasic, who made the save, but he left a huge rebound in front of goal and Niang fired it home to put the sides back on level terms.
Monaco had the better of the play down the stretch but was unable to find a winner and squandered a chance to go level on points with league-leaders Paris Saint-Germain.
Montpellier, meanwhile, remains in 17th place on 28 points with the result, four clear of the bottom three.
PSG emerges from its winter break coming off a 5-2 drubbing of Brest in the Coupe de France on Wednesday and riding a three-match unbeaten streak in league play.
The defending Ligue 1 champions will look to widen their margin atop the table to five points when they travel to the Stade Francois Coty to tangle with bottom-of-the-table Ajaccio on Saturday.
Les Parisiens had little trouble with the Ligue 2 side as Zlatan Ibrahimovic opened the scoring 10 minutes in and Thiago Motta made it 2-0 five minutes later. Ibrahimovic then scored in the 39th and 42nd minutes to complete a first-half hat trick.
"We're always happy when we win," PSG manager Laurent Blanc said of his team's effort. "We wanted to play and we wanted to win. We played very well. Despite the conditions, we found the keys to victory. We did it calmly and confidently."
The result pushed PSG into the last 32 of France's domestic cup competition. PSG reached the quarterfinals of last season's cup before falling to Evian, 4-1, on penalty kicks.
"It wasn't an easy match. It's never easy to play good football on a difficult pitch," Ibrahimovic said. "We are very happy to have qualified. I am very happy to have started the year with three goals. Now we have to focus on the next game."
Ajaccio returns to league play coming off a 2-1 win over Quimperle, but they have struggled mightily during the Ligue 1 season, collecting just one win from their first 19 matches.
But the club will draw some confidence from its last meeting with PSG back on Aug. 18 when ended as a 1-1 stalemate at the Parc des Princes.
Benoit Pedretti gave Ajaccio the lead just nine minutes into the game, but they were unable to hold the lead as Edinson Cavani scored four minutes from time to save a point for his side.
Also on Saturday, Bordeaux welcomes Toulouse to the Stade Chaban-Delmas, while Guingamp hosts St Etienne. Lyon welcomes Sochaux to the Stade de Gerland, Rennes hosts Nice and Valenciennes tangles with Bastia at the Stade du Hainaut.
On Sunday, Nantes welcomes Lorient to the Stade de la Beaujoire, Evian hosts Marseille and Lille battles Reims at the Grand Stade Lille Metropole.
