Lyon maintain Ligue 1 title charge

LIGUE 1 FIXTURES

 

Friday, December 21
Home		Road
Brest	0-3	PSG
Saturday, December 22
Lille	4-1	Montpellier
Ajaccio	2-4	Rennes
Bastia	4-2	Nancy
Bordeaux	0-0	Troyes
Lorient	2-2	Reims
Lyon	3-0	Nice
Sunday, December 23
Home		Road
Valenciennes	2-1	Evian
Toulouse	2-0	Sochaux
Marseille	1-0	St Etienne
More: Scores | Stats | Ligue 1

 

 

Lyon maintained their charge for the Ligue 1 title after an easy 3-0 win over Nice at the Stade de Gerland on Saturday evening.

Goals from Lisandro Lopez, Anthony Reveillere and a Bafetimbi Gomis penalty saw them to victory as they went level with Paris St Germain at the top of the table.

It was an unhappy return to Lyon for former boss Claude Puel whose side ended the match with 10 men after David Ospina was sent off in the build-up to the Gomis spot kick.

Lille will head into the winter break in high spirits after hammering reigning champions Montpellier 4-1 at Grand Stade Metropole.

A Daniel Congre own goal and further strikes from Dimitri Payet, Nolan Roux and Ryan Mendes boosted Lille's European aspirations.

Souleymane Camara got a late consolation for the visitors, who had Younes Belhanda sent off when they were 2-0 down just before half-time.

Rennes came out on top 4-2 in an extraordinary match with Ajaccio which was delayed by 10 minutes after their fourth goal sparked a pitch invasion.

Julien Feret struck from an indirect free-kick in the penalty area after goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa handled Carl Medjani's back-pass but a section of Ajaccio supporters, angered by the taking of the free-kick, stormed from the stand to protest.

Referee Ruddy Buquet suspended the game until order was restored and Rennes held on for victory.

They had twice come from behind in the first half, Feret and Romain Alessandrini equalising after goals from Adrian Mutu and Fousseni Diawara. Cheick Diarra put them ahead for the first time before Feret's controversial clincher.

Bordeaux passed up the opportunity to get back to winning ways after their goalless draw against lowly Troyes.

Les Girondins have fallen behind the pace-setters in the league with their winless run stretched to six matches yet they had their chances on Saturday night.

Gregory Sertic and Ludovic Sane both struck the post from distance in the first half, while Troyes goalkeeper Yohann Thuram-Ulien had to make several decent saves throughout to help his side hang on for a valuable point.

Bastia moved six points clear of the drop zone after a routine 4-2 win over bottom side Nancy.

Jerome Rothen, Anthony Modeste and Sambou Yatabare all scored within the opening half an hour before Benjamin Moukandjo got a goal back for the visitors.

The teams traded goals as Modeste scored again for the hosts with Andre Luiz replying for Nancy, whose run of five consecutive 1-1 draws ended in dramatic fashion.

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Reims were denied a first Ligue 1 win since early October as Pedrinho struck at the death to rescue a 2-2 draw for Lorient.

The hosts were riding a six-match winning streak ahead of kick-off and would have been forgiven for expecting to extend that to a club record seven games against a side without a win in nine dating back to October 6.

But Reims had other ideas and went in front through Odair Fortes in the fifth minute.

Maxime Barthelme levelled for Lorient early in the second half but Gaetan Courtet looked to have won it for Reims when he struck their second in 70th minute, only for Pedrinho to snatch a last-gasp equaliser.