Nine-man Lyon slump to defeat at Lille
Nine-man Lyon missed the chance to move into the third and final
Champions League place in France as they lost 1-0 at Lille on Sunday,
while Michy Batshuayi rescued a 1-1 draw for Marseille against
Saint-Etienne.
Sofiane Boufal scored the only goal of the game at Lille in the 28th
minute, as a desperately poor Lyon saw their run of three consecutive
wins come to an end.
After Saint-Etienne’s draw, Lyon knew three points would move them
into the coveted third place, but they failed to take their chance.
Boufal has been the only stand-out performer in a lifeless Lille
attack this season, and he opened the scoring at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy
with his eighth goal this term.
His free-kick from the left wing evaded everyone in the middle,
including a leaden-footed Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes, as it bounced
into the net.
After scoring 10 goals in a run of three comprehensive victories,
Bruno Genesio’s Lyon would have been confident going into this
encounter.
But they created very little in a drab first half display and shortly
after the restart they were lucky to see Lille striker Yassine Benzia
drag a shot hopelessly wide when in on goal.
On the hour mark any fading hopes the visitors had of moving into the
Champions League spots were all but ended, when right-back Christophe
Jallet saw a second yellow card for holding back Eric Bautheac.
Lille have the second-worst attack in the division but the
second-best defence, so perhaps it was no surprise that Lyon struggled
to create chances.
A miserable outing for Lyon was ended as Clement Grenier’s elbow into the face of Florent Balmont left them with only nine men.
At the Velodrome OM’s Belgian forward Batshuayi had come off the
bench 15 minutes from the end and headed home a Romain Alessandrini
free-kick in the fifth minute of injury-time.
That was a 13th league goal of the season for Batshuayi, putting him
behind only Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the Ligue 1 goalscoring charts.
It was only five minutes from time that St Etienne thought they had
scored the potentially winning goal that would have sent them above Nice
into third place in Ligue 1.
Kevin Monnet-Paquet shot home left-footed from Romain Hamouma’s pass.
“Nothing we saw was new — we created chances, we were close to
scoring, we got back into the match just like against Lille (a 1-1
draw), we fought to the end and there was a lot of courage,” said
Marseille coach Michel.
The draw barely helps either side as St Etienne stay behind Nice on
goal difference, while Marseille are 10th and still five points behind
in the tight race to qualify for Europe’s premier club competition.
Asked if he feared for his job, Michel said: “I don’t think about that, never. I think about doing my job and going forwards.”
Caen ended a three-match losing streak, as a first goal in French
football for Burundian midfielder Saidi Ntibazonkiza saw off Rennes.
The 28-year-old has broken into the first team in recent weeks and
took his chance with a fine second half finish, moving Caen above their
opponents and to within two points of the top three.
For Rennes though the pressure continues to build, they are now lower
in the table than they were a month ago when they sacked former manager
Philippe Montanier and brought in Rolland Courbis.
There was one positive for Courbis as midfielder Yoann Gourcuff made
his first start since rejoining the club in the summer, being withdrawn
in the 59th minute.
On Saturday, Paris Saint-Germain maintained their 24-point lead with a
4-1 victory over lowly Reims as Ibrahimovic scored a brace.
They now need only three more wins and a draw from their final 11 matches to win the Ligue 1 title.
Monaco remain second after a 3-1 win over rock-bottom Troyes sent
them eight points clear of Nice, who drew 0-0 at Bordeaux on Friday.