Ligue 1 action round-up - Week 3 - August 22/23, 2009
Saturday saw former champions Lyon lay down the gauntlet to Bordeaux with an impressive 3-0 victory at Auxerre, who have yet to score a goal so far this season and remain without a single point. Lyon’s goals came from former Newcastle defender Jean-Alain Boumsong, Jean Makoun and Miralem Pjanic. Nancy saw their good start to the season take a hit after succumbing to Le Mans 2-1. They were 2-0 down after strikes from Thorstein Helstad and Anthony Le Tallec, and a late reply from Damian Macaluso proved futile. Monaco bounced back from last week’s 4-0 drubbing with a 2-0 win against Lorient. The hosts went ahead through Frederic Nimani and then Nene added the second before the interval. New Ligue 1 team Montpellier grabbed their first victory with a 2-0 win over Sochaux. Albert Costa scored from the spot before Karim Ait-Fana grabbed a second on the half hour.
St Etienne remains pointless after falling to Boulogne, the visitors taking the lead just before the break with a goal from Alexandre Cuvillier. Boulogne then went down to ten men following the dismissal of Guillaume Ducatel, but they held to claim a vital three points. PSG were involved in the game of the day, beating Valenciennes 3-2 in a thrilling encounter. The Parisian visitors had taken a 2-0 lead with goals from Pegguy Luyindula and Mevlud Erding but Siaka Tiene’s free-kick brought the hosts back into the game. Christophe Jallet seemed to secure the points but the hosts rallied and a stunning goal from Rudy Mater set up a tense finish, but there was to be no dramatic leveller and PSG held out for the win.
Two of Ligue 1’s unbeaten teams met as Marseille came to Rennes, and the two sides inevitably cancelled each other out in a 1-1 draw. It was the hosts who struck first through Jerome Leroy, who scored from the spot following a handball, but Marseille mustered a reply and levelled through a Mamadou Niang goal from Benoit Cheyrou’s cross.
Sunday saw the champions Bordeaux in action and they continued to impress with a thumping 4-0 victory over a hard-working Nice side. The home side had almost held out until half-time but the defence was breached two minutes before the break with a goal from Jussie. Yoann Gourcuff grabbed two goals after the interval with Alou Diarra wrapping the win up with a fourth.
Lens built on their solid start with a 2-1 win away to Grenoble. Eduardo had scored early for the visitors, however Danijel Ljuboja levelled for the home side to give them hope of a first point of the season. Lens were not feeling generous however and snatched all three points after Razak Boukari beat goalkeeper Jody Vivani to the ball and headed home. The final game from Sunday’s fixtures saw Lille grab their first point of the season at home to Toulouse, Robert Vittek had put the home side ahead but Lille managed to take a share of the points with an equalizer from Cheikh M’Bengue.
Three games into the Ligue 1 season and only Bordeaux can boast a 100% win record, however Lyon, PSG ad Marseille will not make things easy for them. Down at the bottom of the table, four unfortunate teams have yet to pick up a point, Valenciennes, Grenoble, St Etienne and Auxerre will hope for a quick change in fortunes if they do not wish to endure a long season.
Full results
Saturday, August 15
AJ Auxerre 0-3 Olympique Lyonnais
Le Mans UC 72 2-1 AS Nancy Lorraine
AS Monaco FC 2-0 FC Lorient
Montpellier HSC 2-0 FC Sochaux Montbeliard
AS Saint-Etienne 0-1 US Boulogne CO
Valenciennes FC 2-3 Paris Saint-Germain
Stade Rennais FC 1-1 Olympique de Marseille
Sunday, August 16
FC Girondins de Bordeaux 4-0 OGC Nice
Grenoble Foot 38 1-2 RC Lens
LOSC 1-1 Toulouse FC
Ligue 1 action round-ups
Week 1 - August 8/9, 2009
Week 2 - August 15/16, 2009
Week 3 - August 22/23, 2009
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