French Roundup

Diarra heads Lyon past Strasbourg, to top of table

PARIS (Reuters) -- A Mahamadou Diarra goal sent Olympique Lyon to the top of the French first division on Sunday as the defending champions beat Racing Strasbourg 2-1.

Lyon took advantage of Nice's 3-0 defeat at Sedan on Saturday, while in another Sunday game, En Avant Guingamp beat RC Lens 3-1 -- their first home defeat of the season.

Guingamp are now third in the table two points adrift of second-placed Nice and three behind Lyon who have 31 points from 17 games.

Ulrich Le Pen put Strasbourg ahead at the Stade Gerland when he fired past Gregory Coupet after 22 minutes.

But Olympique Lyon leveled 11 minutes before the break when Brazilian Juninho dribbled past three defenders to set up Peguy Luyindula for an easy finish.

Diarra headed Lyon ahead three minutes after the break following a Juninho free kick.

At the Stade Bollaert Lens' poor run continued despite taking the lead after 21 minutes through Antoine Sibierski.

Things began to go wrong when Hakim Saci slalomed through the Lens defense to equalize after 38 minutes.

Florent Malouda put Guingamp ahead in the 54th minute when he headed in a Christophe Le Roux free kick.

Le Roux then made sure of the points with a last-minute penalty.

In a late game, AJ Auxerre recovered some confidence after a run of one win and three defeats with a 1-0 victory over Girondins Bordeaux.

Djibril Cisse was Auxerre's scorer after 35 minutes when he blasted the ball from 25 meters from an indirect free kick.

To add to Bordeaux miseries, their captain, former international Christophe Dugarry was yellow-carded for the second time and sent off for jumping on defender Stephane Grichting in the dying minutes of the game.

The win lift lifts Auxerre to sixth place in the standings behind Lyon, Nice, Guingamp, Marseille and Sochaux.

Marseille lost 2-0 at Bastia on Saturday, while Sochaux defeated Troyes 1-0 at home.

At the other end of the table striker Frederic Piquionne scored a hat-trick for Stade Rennes in an extraordinary 5-1 win over Lille. The bottom side had gathered just nine goals in 16 games before Saturday and had not scored in their previous five.

But they stay bottom because Le Havre won 2-1 at AC Ajaccio, after falling behind just before halftime.

Newspaper: PSG coach Fernandez about to lose job

PARIS (Reuters) -- Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Fernandez is about to be sacked by the French first division club after they lost 3-1 at Monaco on Saturday, the sports daily L'Equipe reported on Sunday.

PSG have not won in the league since their 3-0 defeat of arch-rivals Marseille last month, taking only one point from their last five games.

A row between the former French international and his key player Ronaldinho has escalated recently with the Brazilian saying he would leave the club if Fernandez was still in charge after the winter break.

Ronaldinho scored PSG's only goal on Saturday after 25 minutes but two from Shabani Nonda and another from Mexican defender Rafael Marquez sunk the visitors.

Fernandez said he still believed he would stay in charge.

"I feel good. I am not worried at all. I am proud to be the coach of PSG. We play again in three days [against Olympique Lyon]. We'll need a strong game," he said.

Fernandez, who led PSG to their European Cup Winners' Cup victory in 1996, took over as coach in December 2000 from Philippe Bergeroo.

Match reports

PARIS (Reuters) -- Reports from French first division matches played on Saturday and Sunday:

AJ AUXERRE 1 GIRONDINS BORDEAUX O

Once again striker Djibril Cisse was the right man in the right place when he blasted home after 35 minutes an indirect free kick giving them a 1-0 victory over Girondins Bordeaux and lifting them to sixth place in the standings.

To add to Bordeaux miseries, their captain, former international Christophe Dugarry, was yellow-carded for the second time and sent off for jumping on defender Stephane Grichting in the dying minutes of the game.

AJ Auxerre had been desperate to recover some confidence after a run of one win and three defeats.

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OLYMPIQUE LYON 2 RC STRASBOURG 1

French champions Olympique Lyon had to come back from behind to reach reach top spot of the League for the first time this season thanks to a 2-1 home win over Strasbourg.

Brazilian Juninho dribbled past three defenders to set up Peguy Luyindula for an easy equalizer 11 minutes after Ulrich Le Pen had put Strasbourg ahead.

Mahamadou Diarra headed Lyon ahead three minutes after the break following a Juninho free kick.

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RC LENS 1 EN AVANT GUINGAMP 2

Lens took the lead after 21 minutes through Antoine Sibierski but things began to go wrong when Hakim Saci slalomed through the Lens defense to equalize after 38 minutes.

Lens's poor run at home continued when Florent Malouda headed Guingamp ahead in the 54th minute from a Christophe Le Roux free kick. Le Roux put his name on the score-sheet with a last-minute penalty.

Played on Saturday:

AC AJACCIO 1 LE HAVRE 2

Ajaccio broke through the Le Havre backline just before halftime with David Faderne shoveling home from eight meters. Eight minutes after the break, Le Havre's Olivier Fauconnier profited from poor marking to pivot and hit home his sixth goal of the season. Jean-Michel Lesage scored the winner in the 78th minute after a counter-attack. Le Havre's attack overcame the loss of in-form striker Florent Sinama-Pongolle, who suffered an injury in training this week and will be out until after the winter break.

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BASTIA 2 OLYMPIQUE MARSEILLE 0

Two late goals from 18-year-old striker Choukri Ben Saada -- his first in the league -- condemned Marseille to their fifth defeat in 17 games. The first goal was against the run of play, midfielder Mickael Essien beating three Marseille defenders before crossing to Ben Saada. He was put through the middle for his second and calmly slotted home three minutes from time.

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MONACO 3 PARIS ST GERMAIN 1

Shabani Nonda scored twice for Monaco to extend PSG's poor run to five games without a win.

Ronaldinho put PSG ahead in the 25th minute, latching on to Andre Luiz's cross before dribbling round the Monaco defenders and firing past Flavio Roma.

Defender Rafael Marquez scored Monaco's third 11 minutes from time after getting on the end of Vassilis Zikos's rebound.

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NANTES 3 MONTPELLIER 1

Nantes extended their unbeaten run to seven games with a comprehensive win over Montpellier. Striker Marama Vahirua scored in the 32nd minute when he flicked home a cross from near the post. Vahirua was instrumental in the second Nantes goal, crossing from the right and Frederic Da Rocha headed home powerfully from 12 meters.

Midway through the second half, both teams were reduced to 10 men when Nantes's Colombian defender Mario Yepes and Montpellier's Habib Bamogo were sent off after they clashed. Defender Bruno Carotti reduced the gap with a deflected shot inside the area in the 78th minute before defender Nicolas Gillet scored from a penalty late on.

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RENNES 5 LILLE 1

An astonishing goal rush for the bottom side. They opened the scoring with a doubtful penalty in the 22nd minute after Lille goalkeeper Gregory Wimbee brought down Frederic Piquionne as the ball was running over the goalline. Olivier Monterrubio scored from the spot and seven minutes later Olivier Echouafni doubled their advantage. Striker Frederic Piquionne then took over the spotlight with a hat-trick. Vladimir Manchev pulled one back for Lille.

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SEDAN 3 NICE 0

Sedan striker Henri Camara scored once in each half against the leaders. He reacted first to a looping cross from the right to flick the ball past Nice goalkeeper Damien Gregorini in the 34th minute.

Early in the second half, Camara pounced on slack defending to prod home. Gregorini "saved" the ball but it was already behind the goalline. Alain Liri scored a superb third shortly before the final whistle, cutting in from the right touchline and slamming the ball home from an acute angle.

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SOCHAUX 1 TROYES 0

Troyes had failed to win away from home all season and were probably unlucky not to leave without a point. A close match was decided midway through the second half when Wilson Oruma avoided a tackle and shot hard from a difficult angle to beat goalkeeper Tony Heurtebis.

 

Related information

Stories

PSG loses again, Nice stunned 3-0 by Sedan France League and Team Pages

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Sunday's French Match Summaries

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