Paris Saint Germain gave notice that they are becoming a force to be reckoned with again in France by handing reigning champions Lyon a 1-0 defeat at the Parc des Princes on Saturday.
Ludovic Giuly netted the only goal midway through the first half and PSG held on to vault into the top five as Lyon ended the contest with 10 men, Brazilian stalwart Juninho dismissed in the closing stages.
After their second loss of the campaign, Lyon lead second-placed Nice by five points with Marseille, Rennes and PSG in contention two points further back.
PHOTO: AFP
To add insult to injury, the seven-times champions, who lost to PSG for the first time in 12 meetings, will be without defender Anthony Reveillere, who was reported to have snapped knee ligaments after he was forced to go off in the 10th minute, against Fiorentina in the Champions League later this week.
He was replaced by teen Thimothee Kolodziejczak.
Former Monaco, Barcelona and Roma man Giuly nodded home from a probing Ceara cross for his third goal of the season to galvanize a 48,000 crowd, who hoped for, but didn’t get, a spot kick when Kolodziejczak then appeared to push Giuly in his next sortie into the box.
Lyon coach Claude Puel opted to prefer Swede Kim Kallstrom ahead of skipper Juninho and when the Brazilian did make his grand entrance, at a venue where Lyon last season took the points in a 3-2 victory, he only lasted 17 minutes before seeing red after lashing out at Sylvain Armand.
That took the heat off the hosts, who easily held out for the points.
Former giants Saint Etienne earlier sank to the foot of the league after their seventh straight league loss, 1-0 at home to Nice, although coach Alain Perrin insisted he saw some chinks of light despite Olivier Echouafni’s headed winner.
“We’re very frustrated of course — but I saw some encouraging signs. We can get out of this,” Perrin said.
Saint Etienne have lost 11 of 15 league games and scored just eight goals all season.
Elsewhere, UEFA Cup aspirants Bordeaux and Rennes parted 1-1 in the southwest.
Yoann Gourcuff netted against his former club to save a point after Olivier Thomert had put Rennes into a 20th-minute lead.
Toulouse missed a chance to keep pace with Nice after they lost 1-0 to Lorient. Kevin Gameiro was on hand 15 minutes from time to secure the points for the Bretons, who consolidated their mid-table status.
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