Defending champions Bordeaux moved four points clear at the top of the French league and seriously damaged Lyon’s title challenge with a 1-0 victory over their rivals at the Stade Gerland on Sunday.
An 86th-minute header from Marouane Chamakh was enough to secure all three points for the visitors, who are now eight points above Claude Puel’s side.
A tetchy match only began to open up in the second half, with Fernando fizzing a volley wide for Bordeaux and Maxime Gonalons drawing a good save from Cedric Carrasso with a stinging drive at the other end.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Chamakh then blazed over Lyon’s unguarded goal after being teed up by Brazilian Jussie’s cutback, but the Moroccan international made no mistake four minutes from time when he met Yoann Gourcuff’s dinked cross from the right with a firm downward header that Hugo Lloris could not keep out.
Bordeaux move four points clear of surprise package Montpellier at the Ligue 1 summit, with Lyon now well off the pace in ninth place.
Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc praised the gritty nature of his team, saying they are only beginning to show what they are capable of.
“We knew the difficulties awaiting us. We dominated the second half and I think we deserved to win this match,” Blanc said. “This team has shown they really want to have a great season and are in full evolution. The group work well together and are ready to meet every challenge. In terms of points, we achieved a very nice operation.”
Lyon coach Claude Puel could only rue a missed opportunity.
“It’s not very clever to lose at home against a team who are our direct rivals and leaders,” Puel said. “Eight points behind, it’s beginning to become important, even if it’s not critical. There’s nothing much we can do apart from getting back to work and believing in ourselves.”
A sublime goal by Souleymane Camara had earlier earned Montpellier a 1-0 victory at Toulouse.
Camara struck with a stunning half-volley in the 11th minute of the match at the Stadium Municipal to extend his side’s unbeaten run to four matches and maintain their unanticipated title threat.
“I’m happy to have scored such a nice goal, but the three points are what really matter to me,” Camara said. “We’re in second place tonight, but our aim remains to avoid relegation and we’ll see where we finish at the end of the season.”
Lille are now six points off the top in third place after scoring four goals for the fourth successive league game in a 4-0 victory at Monaco, although they have played two games more than the teams either side of them — Montpellier and Marseille.
“We’re in a good moment,” Lille coach Rudi Garcia said. “The important thing was to do everything in order to win. We put ourselves in danger in the first half, but for our fifth match in 15 days, we were in good shape physically.”
Paris Saint-Germain responded to their 1-0 defeat at Bordeaux last weekend by soundly beating Saint-Etienne 3-0 at the Parc des Princes.
Two goals in the space of two minutes by Peguy Luyindula and Stephane Sessegnon put the hosts 2-0 up inside 13 minutes and Mevlut Erding made sure of the points by converting Christophe Jallet’s free-kick six minutes before the interval.
In the day’s other game, Sochaux climbed away from the relegation zone by beating bottom club Grenoble 1-0.
French Ligue 1
Team | P | GD | PTS | |
1 | Bordeaux | 16 | 15 | 34 |
2 | Montpellier | 15 | 7 | 30 |
3 | Lille | 17 | 11 | 28 |
4 | Marseille | 15 | 11 | 28 |
5 | Auxerre | 16 | 2 | 27 |
6 | Lorient | 16 | 10 | 26 |
7 | Rennes | 16 | 8 | 26 |
8 | Valenciennes | 16 | 5 | 26 |
9 | Lyon | 16 | 4 | 26 |
10 | Paris Saint-Germain | 16 | 10 | 25 |
11 | Toulouse | 17 | 4 | 24 |
12 | Monaco | 15 | -3 | 22 |
13 | Sochaux | 16 | -6 | 22 |
14 | Lens | 16 | -6 | 21 |
15 | Nancy | 16 | -3 | 20 |
16 | Nice | 16 | -10 | 20 |
17 | Saint-Etienne | 17 | -14 | 15 |
18 | Le Mans | 16 | -9 | 12 |
19 | Boulogne | 16 | -18 | 12 |
20 | Grenoble | 16 | -18 | 6 |
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