Lens snatched a UEFA Cup berth with victory over Nantes on the final day of the season.

However, they need to thank Bordeaux's Fernando Menegazzo as his late goal against Marseille made all the difference.

The draw in Bordeaux and a similar result for Rennes in Lille allowed Lens to move up from sixth to fourth, edging out Marseille on goal difference.

Lens came from behind to beat Nantes, conceding Emerse Fae's eighth minute goal before hitting back through Ferreyra Jussiei, Aruna Dindane and Adama Coulibaly.

With Nantes playing it safe in midfield, the onus was on Lens to go forward but the dangers inherent in the strategy were soon exposed when the visitors took the lead with a move on the counter-attack.

Frederic Da Rocha broken down the right wing, crossing for Fae to score.

Lens sought to respond quickly, and Jussiei had just seen a long-range volley come back off the crossbar when they found the equaliser.

It came in the 19th minute when Benoit Assou-Ekotto's cross was volleyed home by Jussiei.

Two minutes later they were ahead when Nantes goalkeeper Mickael Landreau - playing his final game for his boyhood club - failed to clear a corner, allowing Dindane to prod home.

Lens controlled the game from then on as Nantes had no answer.

They finished the half with a fine sweeping move but Assou Ekotto could not cap it with a goal, sending his shot over the bar.

Lens picked up where they left off in the second half, with Jussiei almost immediately testing Landreau with a low shot which the goalkeeper did well to smother.

In the 71st minute, Landreau diverted Olivier Thomert's shot onto the bar and moments later thwarted the player in a one-one-one situation.

However, he could do nothing about the third goal in the 85th minute. Dindane beat two defenders before cutting the ball back to Coulibaly who finished from close range.

At that stage, Lens were still outside the European places with Marseille winning in Bordeaux, but the crowd erupted as news trickled through of Menegazzo's equaliser.