Olympique Lyonnais extended their unbeaten Ligue 1 streak to 10 matches on Saturday with a hardfought 0-0 draw at SC Bastia, but wasted the chance to climb above Olympique de Marseille into second and close in on leaders Paris Saint-Germain.
AS Monaco also failed to make up ground on the frontrunners after they were held 2-2 at home by Stade Malherbe Caen Calvados, who have endured a turbulent week off the field.
In the night’s other matches, Lorient eased relegation fears with a 1-0 win over fellow strugglers Racing Club de Lens, Stade Rennais won the Brittany derby away at En Avant de Guingamp with the only goal of the match and OGC Nice were held 0-0 at home by Stade de Reims.
Photo: AFP
Lyon’s Hubert Fournier, who has enjoyed just two victories in nine trips to Corsica as a player, looked on as the seven-time champions failed to break down the rugged home defense.
The draw also ended les Gones’ five-match winning run and they next travel to archrivals AS Saint-Etienne this Sunday.
Caen’s week was marred by becoming embroiled in a match-fixing scandal dating back to their promotion season last year and saw club president Jean-Francois Fortin charged in relation to the affair.
However, they seemed to shrug that off upon arriving at Monaco, spiking the principality club’s guns ahead of their UEFA Champions League game away to Bayer 04 Leverkusen on Wednesday.
Two own-goals sealed the result, with Caen’s Beninese defender Emmanuel Imorou breaching his own net in the ninth, before Fode Koita equalized six minutes after the break and a Geoffrey Kondogbia own-goal then gave Caen a 62nd-minute lead.
However, Portuguese international Joao Moutinho spared the home side’s blushes a quarter of an hour from time as he slotted home the equilateral from close range.
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