Soccer-Lacazette and Blanc take French awards

PARIS, May 17 (Reuters) - Olympique Lyonnais forward Alexandre Lacazette was named French player of the year on Sunday, after topping the scoring charts with 27 goals for the season, while the Ligue 1 coach award went to Paris St Germain's Laurent Blanc. Lacazette, who has been tipped for a big-money move to England this summer, was a driving force for league runners-up Lyon as they battled PSG for the title and qualified for the Champions League. "As a player to be nominated is great, but to go home with the trophy against such great competition as (Javier) Pastore, (Marco) Verratti and (Zlatan)Ibrahimovic, it's really good", the 23-year-old said. Lacazette succeeds Ibrahimovic, the winner both in 2013 and 2014 with PSG -- who retained their title with a game to spare on Saturday in a 2-1 win over Montpellier. Blanc took the manager award for the second time, having previously won it when in charge of Girondins Bordeaux in 2008. PSG are still chasing an unprecedented clean sweep of the domestic honours, having already won the season-opening Champions Trophy, the league and League Cup. They face second-tier AJ Auxerre in the French Cup final at the end of the month. "It's an honour for me individually which is being handed out this afternoon, but it's also one for a team, that means the technical staff and I would also add the medical staff," said Blanc. (Reporting By Douglas Beattie in London,; Editing by Alan Baldwin)