France: Lille fail to gain ground in goalless draw; PSG up to tenth

AJACCIO, Dec 18 (SW) – After leaders Lyon dropped points to Marseille on Friday, Lille had a chance to move within a point of the champions, but managed only a 0-0 draw at Ajaccio on Saturday in Ligue 1.

Lyon drew 1-1 at home against rivals Marseille, but were fortunate that Lille could do nothing but match the result with a draw. Lyon claimed the winter championship on Friday, and will go into the final half of the season with a three-point lead over Lille.

Another team that failed to capitalize on the Lyon result was Monaco, who could only produce a 1-1 draw at home against Bordeaux. Didier Deschamps’ team had to play catch-up after Jean-Claude Darcheville put Bordeaux in front 1-0 in the eighth minute. Monaco did get an equalizer in the 42nd minute from Mohammed Kallon, but got no closer and are fourth in the table, nine points behind Lyon.

After a dreadful start to the year, and an exit from Europe, Paris St. Germain finished the first half of the season in the top half of the table, jumping to 10th with a 3-0 win over Metz. The home side went ahead on 38 minutes through Mehdi Meniri’s own goal and were 2-0 ahead when Pauleta scored on the hour mark. It was three when PSG got a goal in the 74th minute from Fabrice Pancrate, giving the supporters at the Parc des Princes some hope for the second half of the year.

The team that sits third in the league is a bit of a surprise in Auxerre, who defeated Nice in a shoot-out on Saturday, 4-3. Nice were down to ten men just before the interval when Victor Agali was sent off and René Bolf made it 1-0 to Auxerre just before the break. Sammy Traoré leveled for shorthanded Nice two minutes into the second half, but Zimbabwe’s Benjamin Mwaruwari retook the lead for Auxerre seven minutes later.

Marama Vahirua made it appear the disadvantage was not such as he grabbed an equalizer for Nice in the 57th minute to make it 2-2, but with another quick response was Auxerre’s Younes Kaboul, scoring just two minutes later. In the game of back and forth, Nice’s Olivier Echouafni made it 3-3 just three minutes later. Finally, the winner and the goal fest came to an end when Mwaruwari scored less than a minute after the Echouafni goal. Auxerre are seven points adrift of Lyon.


Toulouse leapt up to sixth in the table to cap a fine first half of the season, winning 2-0 at Caen. Benjamin Psaume put Toulouse 1-0 in front on 28 minutes and the insurance goal came via Daniel Moreira 30 minutes later, putting Toulouse within striking distance of the Champions League places.

Perhaps the hottest team in Ligue 1 at the moment is Saint-Etienne. Les Verts continued to roll forward with a 2-0 win at Istres, the bottom club in the league. Julien Sablé put Saint-Etienne into the lead on 32 minutes and Frédéric Mendy doubled the advantage shortly before half-time. The visitors did have to finish the match short a man after Zoumana Camara was sent off in the 59th minute, but Istres could not capitalize.

Strasbourg recorded a 1-0 win over Rennes, Cedric Kanté’s goal providing the only offence. Also, Lens notched a 2-1 triumph over Bastia. Daniel Cousin put Lens 1-0 in front on 35 minutes and got his second of the game in the 69th. Tony Vairelles pulled one back for Bastia eight minutes from the end, but it would not be enough to secure a point.