Ligue 1 - Lyon go five clear

Eurosport - Sat, 20 Sep 22:18:00 2008

A penalty by Ederson gave Lyon a 1-0 win at Le Havre and sent the seven-time champions five points clear at the top of Ligue 1.

FOOTBALL Lyon Ederson - 0

Brazilian midfielder Ederson converted the spot-kick just before the break after forward Frederic Piquionne was brought down in the box by Le Havre defender Nicolas Gilet.

Lyon, chasing an eighth consecutive title, played the last 25 minutes with 10 men after forward Sidney Govou was sent off for a second booking.

That did not stop them moving to 16 points from six matches, five points ahead of Marseille, who are second and host Monaco on Sunday, and third-placed Toulouse who beat Sochaux 2-1 with two goals from striker Andre-Pierre Gignac.

"It was tough as we knew it would be but we put up a brave fight for the third time this week," said Lyon coach Claude Puel, whose team recovered from two goals down to beat Nice 3-2 last weekend and to draw 2-2 with Fiorentina in the Champions League on Wednesday.

"Congratulations to my players who showed once again they had courage as well as quality," Puel added.

Le Mans and Nice were fourth and fifth respectively, both on 10 points, after they drew 2-2 in Nice.

Emerse Fae and Loïc Remy put the hosts 2-0 up after under half an hour.

But defender Saber Ben Frej pulled one back just after the restart, while Roland Lamah completed the comeback four minutes from time.

Bordeaux moved up to fourth place, six points off the pace, by winning 1-0 at Grenoble in a tense affair featuring three red cards.

Laurent Blanc's men, who bounced back four days after a 4-0 Champions League thrashing by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, played most of the second half with nine men.

Midfielder Alou Diarra was the first to leave, for a second booking on 49 minutes, and Brazilian midfielder Wendel followed him off for a dangerous tackle five minutes later.

Substitute forward Jussie gave the visitors victory from a counter-attack 10 minutes from time.

Grenoble then had midfielder Martial Robin sent off for dangerous play with a few seconds remaining.

Two goals from Mali striker Mamadou Bagayoko gave promoted Nantes a 2-0 home victory over Valenciennes.

The eight-time champions climb two spots from bottom to 18th after their first win this season.

Reuters

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  1. Show me. When was the last time OM were awarded a penalty or had an offside goal allowed. I can't even remember. Lyon are NOT the real French champs

    From tom h, on Sun 21 Sep 9:55PM

  2. tom h, the penalty call was legitimate, maybe if the defenders don't pull him down in the box there would be no penalty mate. by the way about getting a win without outside assistance they are seven time defending champs so the answer is yes they can win games on their own.

    From football4life, on Sun 21 Sep 1:27AM

  3. That's three games in a row now that Lyon have gotten help from the referees. Aulas pockets must almost be empty. Can't those lightweights win a game without outside assistance?

    From tom h, on Sat 20 Sep 9:11PM
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