Olympique Lyonnais celebrated the inauguration of their new 59,000-capacity stadium with a 4-1 victory over bottom side ESTAC Troyes on Saturday, snapping a six-game winless run in Ligue 1.
Alexandre Lacazette wrote his name into the history books by scoring the first goal at Parc OL to give Lyon an 18th-minute lead, but Fabien Camus silenced the home fans with a stunning equalizer midway through the second half.
However, Lyon went back in front courtesy of a fine Rachid Ghezzal strike on 72 minutes before Jordan Ferri and Claudio Beauvue added late goals to clinch a first league win for Lyon in two months.
Photo: Reuters
Lyon climbed up to sixth, while Troyes did little to dispel the likelihood of an immediate return to the second tier, having yet to win 20 matches into the season.
The hosts went ahead as Lacazette held off a defender before steering past Paul Bernardoni for his seventh goal of the season.
Troyes, who had recorded three straight draws in the league, pulled level on 67 minutes when Camus fired a swerving long-range shot past Anthony Lopes.
However, Lyon regained the lead five minutes later as Ghezzal swiveled inside the area and struck a sweet left-footed effort beyond Bernardoni.
Ferri then thumped home a third goal on 81 minutes after an inviting lay-off from Clement Grenier with Beauvue heading in a fourth in stoppage-time.
Elsewhere, AS Monaco needed a Fabinho penalty and a goal from veteran Portuguese defender Ricardo Carvalho to salvage a 2-2 draw at home to Gazelec Ajaccio after the visitors had taken control through first-half strikes from Khalid Boutaib and John Tshibumbu.
Pierrick Capelle and Billy Ketkeophomphone were on target for Angers SCO in a 2-0 win over Stade Malherbe Caen that bumped the hosts back up to second place, a point ahead of Monaco.
Stade Rennais fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at home to Lorient as France playmaker Yoann Gourcuff, who joined Rennes as a free agent in November last year, made his first appearance in 10 months.
Wissam Ben Yedder netted a hat-trick to lead Toulouse to a 3-1 victory at 10-man Stade de Reims and move them within a point of safety, while Cheick Diabate grabbed the only goal for Girondins de Bordeaux in a 1-0 victory at Montpellier Herault.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ¥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ¥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
Batting great Virat Kohli yesterday announced his immediate retirement from Test cricket, just days before India name their squad for a tour to England. Kohli, who scored 9,230 runs in 123 matches at an average of 46.85, posted his decision on Instagram five days after India captain Rohit Sharma called time on his own Test career. Since making his debut in 2011, Kohli struck 30 hundreds and 31 fifties with a highest score of 254 not out, mainly batting at number four in the order. “It’s been 14 years since I first wore the baggy blue in Test cricket,” the