Bordeaux, Saint-Etienne beaten, Lyon held
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| AFP |
Bordeaux and Saint-Etienne both suffered Ligue 1 opening day defeats on Sunday as French football was still suffering the shockwaves of Marcelo Bielsa's resignation as Marseille coach.
In the weekend's final match, last season's runners-up Lyon were held to a 0-0 draw by Brittany side Lorient at their Stade Gerland.
At the Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux, Willy Sagnol's men were ten minutes from victory before Nicolas De Preville cancelled out Wahbi Khazri's 41st minute opener and Theoson Jordan Siebatcheu grabbed a dramatic 88th minute winner for Reims. "It was above all two terrible defensive errors that cost us the points today," said Sagnol.
"I saw a team who were flat, who didn't want to get forward and who didn't have the desire, after the first goal for us which was a bit lucky, to kill off the match," added the former French international defender. "It's sad because it was the first match of the season at home and we start with a defeat but we're just going to have to work hard this week and get ready for Saint-Etienne with what I hope will be more desire from the players to try and get a result at their stadium which is never easy."
At Toulouse, Loic Perrin gave Saint-Etienne a 17th minute lead before the home side turned matters around. Martin Braithwaite levelled the match ten minutes after Perrin's opener before star striker Wissam Ben Yedder put away the winner, eight minutes into the second half. Toulouse finished the match with ten men when Aleksandar Pesic was shown a straight red card with four minutes left.
Meanwhile, Lyon ran into an inspired goalkeeper in the form of Lorient's Parisian Benjamin Lecomte who defied Hubert Fournier's side time and time again. On another down note for Lyon, star striker Alexandre Lacazette was substituted in the second half with what appeared to be a back problem.