Table-toppers Nice suffered their first Ligue 1 defeat of the season on Sunday when they went down 1-0 after a hotly disputed penalty at Caen.

The southern side still top Ligue 1 with 29 points ahead of Monaco on 26 while champions Paris Saint Germain are third on 23 ahead of their Sunday night game at home to Rennes.

Nice have surprisingly set the pace in France this season under new coach Lucien Favre and with added zest in front of goal inspired by Italian centre forward Mario Balotelli.

But after a tough defeat in the Europa League in midweek and an away match at the very opposite end of France at Caen they suffered their first league reverse of the campaign.

The goal came from the penalty spot and was converted by the Croat Ivan Santini after the referee decided Ronny Rodelin had been fouled in the area on 42 minutes.

"We conceded just before the break and that's never good. We should have gone in 0-0 at the break," lamented Favre.

"And then we tried to do it all too quickly. We had a couple of chances and that's all you should normally need," he said.