Girondins de Bordeaux suffered their first defeat of the new Ligue 1 season against En Avant de Guingamp on Sunday to lose top spot in the table to LOSC Lille Metropole, who beat Nantes earlier in the day.
First-half goals from Moustapha Diallo and Christophe Mandanne, the latter from a penalty, condemned Willy Sagnol’s Bordeaux to a 2-1 defeat, with a late Cheick Diabate strike proving to be a mere consolation for the visitors in Brittany.
Lille went clear at the summit thanks to a 2-0 victory against Nantes in the far north, with Divock Origi scoring one goal and then setting up another for Portuguese youngster Rony Lopes, while Olympique de Marseille won 3-1 against Evian Thonon Gaillard to go second.
Photo: AFP
Rene Girard’s Lille side, who are to face Russian club Krasnodar in the Europa League on Thursday, are a point ahead of Marseille, Bordeaux and AS Saint-Etienne, with Paris Saint-Germain a further point adrift in fourth.
Diallo headed home a free-kick from midfielder Sylvain Marveaux to put Guingamp ahead after 26 minutes, and Mandanne netted from the spot eight minutes later, after Gregory Sertic had brought down Jeremy Pied inside the box.
Coupe de France holders Guingamp, who are to play ACF Fiorentina in the Europa League on Thursday, then held on after giant Malian Diabate had reduced the arrears in the 83rd minute, sweeping home first-time from a Thomas Toure cutback.
“In the first half, the players’ heads were not in it,” said Bordeaux coach Sagnol, who had been widely praised after his team’s fine start to the campaign. “The return to action after the international break was difficult. I hope this will serve as a lesson for everyone that nothing will be easy this season.”
“Losing the status of leaders could be a good thing for us,” he said. “It was maybe getting a bit difficult to deal with in recent weeks.”
Lille continued their unbeaten start to the season with two goals in the first four minutes of the second period at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy.
After a goalless first half, Origi opened the scoring within a minute of the restart, heading home a cross from Florent Balmont.
Three minutes later, the Belgium international provided the pass for Lopes to apply the finish.
It was a first goal for the Portuguese midfielder since he moved to Lille on loan from Manchester City in the summer transfer window.
Marseille’s international break was overshadowed by a row between coach Marcelo Bielsa and president Vincent Labrune regarding the latter’s summer transfer dealings.
The Argentine claimed that none of the players he wanted to bring to the Stade Velodrome were signed, and none of those Labrune did recruit featured in the starting lineup in Annecy.
Marseille needed just 20 seconds to open the scoring, Andre-Pierre Gignac lashing home the fastest goal in Ligue 1 this season from Rod Fanni’s ball over the top.
It was a cruel introduction to Ligue 1 for Evian’s debutant goalkeeper Benjamin Leroy, who was beaten again a minute before the interval when Giannelli Imbula’s strike deflected in off Jonathan Mensah.
With president Labrune watching on, Dimitri Payet set up Florian Thauvin to make it 3-0 just after the hour, and while Clarck N’Sikulu got one back late on, l’OM eased to a third successive Ligue 1 win.
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