Ligue 1 action round-up - Week 2 - August 15/16, 2009
Saturday saw Lyon pick up their first win of the season thanks to new boy Bafetimbi Gomis, who scored the only goal of the match at home to Valenciennes. Elsewhere, Nancy went top of the table on goal difference after thumping a below-par Monaco side 4-0, the goals coming from Issiar Dia, André Luiz and two from Alo'o Afoulou. Ligue 2 champions Lens responded to their 4-1 thrashing by Bordeaux on the opening day by picking up a 2-0 win over Auxerre thanks to Monnet-Paquet and Boukari’s goals either side of half time, while Lorient came from 2-0 down against Montpellier to snatch a 2-2 draw in a thrilling final 30 minutes. The newly promoted side took the lead with goals from Alberto Costa and Emir Spahic, however Lorient rallied after Kevin Gameiro pulled one back straight from the kick-off and in the third minute of injury-time Koscielny salvaged a point.
PSG grabbed their first win of the new campaign after coming back from 1-0 down against Le Mans, goals from Mevlut Erding, a Frédéric Thomas own-goal and Ludovic Giuly cancelling out Thomas Helstad’s opener in a 3-1 win. Two stunning goals proved the difference as Toulouse defeated St Etienne 3-1. Paulo Machado opened the scoring with a 35-yard free-kick before Emmanuel Rivière levelled the scores, however Les Verts could not hold out as Gignac scored a tremendous effort with Moussa Sissoko wrapping up the points with the third.
Sunday brought a first win for the newly promoted Boulogne - two goals in the first half from Gregory Thil enough to see off Grenoble 2-1. The visitors’ reply came from Daniel Ljuboja but it was too little too late. Pretenders to the Ligue 1 crown, Marseille, picked up their second straight win as Didier Deschamps’ side defeated Lille 1-0 - Brazillian striker Brandao scoring the only goal. Marouane Chamakh’s stock continued to rise as the striker grabbed two goals for Bordeaux as they defeated FC Sochaux 3-2. Chamakh opened the scoring before Wedel made it two. Sochaux managed to claw one back through Charlie Davies before Chamakh’s second. Davies grabbed a second Sochaux goal in injury-time to set up a tense finale, but the champions held on to take all three points.
OGC Nice and Rennes played out a hard-fought 1-1 draw. Nice drew first blood after a superb goal from Chaouki Ben Saada, but this was cancelled out by the visitors through a penalty from Asamoah Gyan. Junichi Inamoto was sent off for Rennes who held out to claim a deserved point.
An exciting weekend of football in the French League saw a few glorious goals and some entertaining matches, with Ligue 1 proving far more watchable than it gets credit for. Newly promoted Boulogne will be delighted to register their first victory as they battle for survival and while it is still very early on Bordeaux are looking good value to retain their title. But Marseille, who have yet to concede a goal, will hope to push them all the way to the end of the season.
Full results
Saturday, August 15
RC Lens 2-0 AJ Auxerre
FC Lorient 2-2 Montpellier HSC
Olympique Lyonais 1-0 Valenciennes
AS Nancy Lorraine 4-0 AS Monaco FC
Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 Le Mans UC 72
FC Sochaux Montbeliard 2-3 FC Girondins De Bordeaux
Toulouse FC 3-1 AS Saint Ettienne
Sunday, August 16
US Boulogne CO 2-1 Grenoble Foot 82
OGC Nice1-1 Stade Rennais FC
Olympique De Marseille 1-0 LOSC
Ligue 1 action round-ups
Week 1 – August 8/9, 2009
Week 2 - August15/16, 2009
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