French champions Bordeaux took advantage of a shock 4-1 defeat for Lyon at Nice to return to the top of the table with a 3-0 home victory over Le Mans on Saturday.
Lyon secured a historic Champions League victory at Liverpool in midweek, but they fell behind in the 17th minute at struggling Nice when Mamadou Bagayoko emphatically headed home Loic Remy’s cross from the right flank.
An own-goal from stand-in Lyon goalkeeper Remy Vercoutre, who fumbled a touch from teammate Aly Cissokho over his goal-line, put Nice 2-0 up at the break, before David Hellebuyck added a third with 20 minutes to play.
Remy deepened the visitors’ woe in the 75th minute, pouncing on hesitancy from Jean Makoun before rounding Vercoutre and tapping home.
Ederson notched a late consolation for Claude Puel’s side, who have now lost consecutive league games after their 2-0 defeat at home to Sochaux last time out.
“Tonight, we lost by four goals to one and it’s tough,” Lyon’s French international midfielder Jeremy Toulalan said.
“I don’t think that really reflects the shape of the match, even though we were missing a cutting edge tonight. Nice were clinical. It’s not the end of the world,” he said.
Bordeaux went into their meeting with Le Mans on the back of a 2-1 win over German giants Bayern Munich in the Champions League, but they had slumped to surprise defeats in their last two league matches against Saint-Etienne and Auxerre.
Laurent Blanc’s side enjoyed a perfect, if fortuitous, start at the Stade Chaban Delmas, with Yoan Gouffran’s shot hitting the right-hand post and rebounding into the net off the back of Le Mans goalkeeper Didier Ovono’s head in the fourth minute.
Victory was secured 23 minutes from the end, when Marouane Chamakh rose at the near post to head Yoann Gourcuff’s left-wing corner inside the right-hand upright, before David Bellion added a third in the 83rd minute.
Bordeaux climb back to the top, a point above Monaco, who won 3-1 at 10-man Boulogne-sur-Mer thanks to a late brace from the league’s top scorer Nene in the 87th and 94th minutes — the Brazilian’s eighth and ninth goals of the campaign.
Lyon are a point back alongside surprise package Montpellier, who fell to a 3-0 defeat at Rennes in the late kick-off.
Grenoble’s long wait for a first point of the season continues after they let slip a 1-0 lead to lose 2-1 at home to Nancy, for whom Youssouf Hadji netted an 88th-minute winner from the penalty spot.
“We should have won this match,” said Grenoble coach Mecha Bazdarevic, whose side have lost all 10 of their matches to date.
Elsewhere, Sochaux edged Lorient 1-0 and Valenciennes inflicted a 2-0 home defeat on Saint-Etienne.
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