France: Sans top scorer, leader Lyon held to 0-0 draw by Valenciennes

PARIS (AP) -- Without injured top scorer Karim Benzema, French league leader Lyon was held to 0-0 at home by struggling Valenciennes on Saturday.

Benzema was out for at least two weeks because of a thigh injury, and with midfielder Juninho also missing through suspension, Claude Puel's team lacked sharpness as goalkeeper Nicolas Penneteau kept Lyon at bay.

Brazilians Fred and Ederson tried to create openings for the seven-time defending champion and went close with long shots early in the second half. As Lyon pressed hard for a late winner, Penneteau twice denied Fred from close range in the closing minutes, and Penneteau then denied substitute Cesar Delgado with another fine stop in the second minute of injury time.

"Penneteau played well. That's the way it goes," Fred said. "There are some days when we will play like this. We've got to lift our heads up and think of playing Nantes."

Johan Audel had a chance saved by Lyon goalkeeper Hugo Lloris in the 15th, but after that Valenciennes fought a rearguard action as heavy rainfall drenched the pitch at Stade Gerland and thwarted Lyon's neat passing game.

"The pitch was unplayable. It was impossible to play football the way we wanted to," Puel said. "It's a shame, we lost two points and never had the right conditions to win the match. It was important to take the three points tonight.

"We started the match well and then the conditions got worse and worse. We could not adapt and continued to play short passes and overlaps. The ball kept stopping. We had to carry the ball far too much."

Fred compared the choppy condition of the pitch to playing on a beach back in Brazil.

"I honestly thought this match would be stopped in the second half as it was becoming very hard to play," Fred said. "It was like being on the sand at Copacabana."

The draw took Lyon to 34 points after 16 rounds, six more than second-place Nice, and seven ahead of third-place Marseille. Nice's home game against Grenoble was pushed back to Sunday because of torrential rainfall, while Marseille plays at Toulouse on Sunday.

Bordeaux, last season's runner-up, missed a chance to close the gap on Lyon when it was held to 0-0 at Sochaux, which was in 19th place and has won only once.

The draw meant Bordeaux had 26 points and remained eight adrift of Lyon.

It is the first time this season that Sochaux has not conceded a goal, and it had goalkeeper Teddy Richert to thank for that when he tipped a powerful late shot from midfielder Fernando onto the crossbar.

Also, it was: Lille 1, Lorient 1; Le Havre 0, Nantes 2; Auxerre 0, Monaco 1, and Le Mans 2, Caen 0.

Brazilian midfielder Michel Bastos gave Lille the lead in the seventh minute, but Lille defender Adil Rami scored an own-goal in the 35th to give Lorient a point.

Serbian striker Nikola Pikrovac grabbed Monaco's only goal in the 24th, while second-half goals from Modibo Miaga and Gervinho were enough for Le Mans.

Nantes climbed out of the relegation zone thanks to goals from Filip Djordjevic in the 69th and David De Freitas in the 84th.

In Sunday's other games, Nancy hosts Saint-Etienne, and Rennes plays improving Paris Saint-Germain.

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