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PSG crash to surprise defeat, Metz vs Lyon abandoned

By Julien Pretot PARIS (Reuters) - Paris St Germain suffered their third defeat of the season and free-scoring Monaco went top of Ligue 1 as an unsavoury incident at Metz marred the French league's Saturday night. The Metz v Olympique Lyonnais game was abandoned after 31 minutes when firecrackers were thrown close to visiting goalkeeper Anthony Lopes, who was taken to a hospital for checks. With the home side leading 1-0 through Gauthier Hein's 29th-minute opener, both teams were sent to the dressing room by referee Lionel Jaffredo after a second firecracker exploded at the feet of Lopes as he was being treated by medical staff. The game was called off after a 45-minute interruption. Elsewhere, Monaco's scoring spree resumed as they demolished visiting Bastia 5-0 thanks to a Radamel Falcao double and goals by Kylian Mbappe, Thomas Lemar and Guido Carrillo. Monaco, who were held to a 1-1 draw by Dijon in their previous outing, have now scored 49 goals from 16 league matches and head the standings with 36 points, on goal difference from Nice, who host Toulouse on Sunday. They are a point ahead of French champions PSG, in third, after they were humbled 3-0 at Montpellier earlier on Saturday. Paul Lasne opened the scoring before Ellyes Skhiri and Ryad Boudebouz added two in the second half to inflict on PSG their first three-goal league defeat since they lost by the same score at Olympique de Marseille on Nov. 3, 2011. Montpellier played a physical game against PSG and they were rewarded three minutes before the break when midfielder Lasne beat Alphone Areola to the ball and found the back of the net with a fine lob. Three minutes into the second half, midfielder Skhiri curled a shot from just inside the box past Areola to double the tally. PSG coach Unai Emery, who had to cope with injuries to midfielders Javier Pastore, Marco Verratti and Adrien Rabiot, replaced Christopher Nkunku with Hatem Ben Arfa shortly before the hour. The former Newcastle forward had an immediate impact but Montpellier keeper Laurent Pionnier kept the visitors at bay with several impressive saves to deny Angel Di Maria and Lucas. Montpellier move up to 10th on 19 points. PSG take on Ludogorets on Tuesday, knowing that a victory would earn them top spot in their Champions League Group A, ahead of Arsenal. (Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Neville Dalton)