Toulouse bounced back from Europa League disappointment to beat struggling Lens 2-0 on Sunday, while fellow European representatives Lille fell to a 3-2 defeat at in-form Auxerre.
Marseille’s hotly anticipated game at home to fierce rivals Paris Saint-Germain was postponed, however, after three players from the capital club contracted swine flu.
Defender Mamadou Sakho and midfielders Ludovic Giuly and Jeremy Clement have all been confirmed as having the A(H1N1) virus, with the rest of the squad and management confined to quarantine for a period of 72 hours.
PHOTO: AFP
It was the first time a top-flight match in France had been called off because of the virus.
Around 2,000 PSG fans had already traveled south for the match, with Marseille police forced to disperse hundreds of supporters from both sides after violent clashes in the city center.
Lille had produced a superb performance to beat Italian side Genoa 3-0 in the Europa League on Thursday, but their eight-game unbeaten run in all competitions came to an end at Auxerre.
Ivorian summer signing Gervinho sweetly half-volleyed Lille into a 26th-minute lead, before Polish striker Ireneusz Jelen, last season’s top scorer, equalized from close range 10 minutes later.
Pierre-Alain Frau swiftly restored the away side’s advantage, but with 12 minutes remaining Jelen claimed his second, before Daniel Niculae rose to head in an 81st-minute winner that earned Jean Fernandez’s side a fourth straight league victory and lifted them up to seventh.
Toulouse sank to a comprehensive 4-0 defeat at Shakhtar Donetsk in midweek, but they bounced back to win 2-0 at second-bottom Lens.
The visitors’ French internationals Moussa Sissoko and Andre-Pierre Gignac secured the points, with Sissoko tapping home in the 35th minute after Franck Tabanou’s shot had hit the crossbar and Gignac claiming a well-taken second 11 minutes into the second half.
“I wasn’t worried,” Toulouse coach Alain Casanova said after seeing his side return to winning ways following their European embarrassment. “You have to realize that we came up against a team that was just too strong and we played a non-match ourselves. I knew the boys were going to react.”
French Ligue 1
Team | P | GD | PTS | |
1 | Bordeaux | 10 | 12 | 22 |
2 | Monaco | 10 | 6 | 21 |
3 | Lyon | 10 | 5 | 20 |
4 | Montpellier | 10 | 4 | 20 |
5 | Marseille | 9 | 7 | 17 |
6 | Lorient | 10 | 4 | 17 |
7 | Auxerre | 10 | 1 | 17 |
8 | Rennes | 10 | 9 | 16 |
9 | Valenciennes | 10 | 4 | 16 |
10 | Sochaux | 10 | -2 | 15 |
11 | Toulouse | 10 | 3 | 14 |
12 | Nancy | 10 | 0 | 14 |
13 | Paris Saint-Germain | 9 | 3 | 13 |
14 | Nice | 10 | -8 | 11 |
15 | Lille | 10 | -4 | 10 |
16 | Saint-Etienne | 10 | -5 | 10 |
17 | Boulogne | 10 | -7 | 9 |
18 | Le Mans | 10 | -6 | 8 |
19 | Lens | 10 | -10 | 8 |
20 | Grenoble | 10 | -16 | 0 |
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