High-flying Bordeaux slipped up in their bid to overhaul champions Lyon, being held to a goalless draw at home by Lille in French league action on Sunday.
Bordeaux had started the weekend one point behind the seven-time champions.
But Lyon pulled three points ahead after a double from Brazilian striker Fred gave them a 2-0 win at home to bottom-of-the-table Metz on Saturday.
PHOTO: AFP
Bordeaux failed to make the most of their home advantage in a dour showing at their Jacques Chaban-Delmas stadium against 14th-placed Lille.
The European hopes of Eric Gerets' Marseille were also dented as they dropped to fifth after being held 0-0 at relegation-threatened Toulouse in the first of Sunday's two games.
Despite missing defenders Gael Givet and Laurent Bonnart because of flu, Gerets paid dearly for opting to leave strikers Djibril Cisse and Mamadou Niang and midfielder Mathieu Valbuena on the bench for the first half.
Gerets remained upbeat despite the setback.
"I'm not talking about the Champions League because you have to remember how far Marseille has come. When I began my work we were in the last three," he said.
The hosts were fresher than a Marseille side that booked their place in the UEFA Cup last 16 days earlier and held on for a point, albeit their seventh draw in the past eight home games.
Five-time champion Novak Djokovic on Saturday tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters, falling in his first match to lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp as two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced. “No excuses for a poor performance,” 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic said after 37 unforced errors in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat. “It doesn’t feel great when you play this way on the court,” he said. “But congratulations to my opponent — just a bad day in the office, I guess, for me.” Djokovic is just the latest in Van de Zandschulp’s string of superstar victims. He
Taiwanese badminton player Lin Chun-yi had to settle for silver in the men’s singles at the Orleans Masters in France on Sunday after losing in the final to his French opponent. The 25-year-old Lin, ranked world No. 14, lost to Alex Lanier 13-21, 18-21 in a match that lasted 42 minutes at the Palais des Sports arena. It was the first time that the two players were facing each other in their professional careers. In the opener, Lin was slow to warm up, which gave the 20-year-old Lanier an opportunity to take an early lead with seven consecutive points. Despite
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried
RSS