Lyon and Marseille end level as Lorient edge Monaco
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| AFP |
Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette opened his account for the season on Sunday but ten-man Marseille battled back to earn a 1-1 draw in a testy encounter at the Stade Velodrome. Lacazette, scorer of a club-record 27 goals last season on his way to winning French Ligue 1's Player of the Year award, converted a first-half penalty to atone for his midweek miss in the UEFA Champions League.
But Marseille, despite seeing Romain Alessandrini sent off just before half-time, rescued a point after play was interrupted due to crowd trouble courtesy of Karim Rekik's first goal in French football.
Saint-Etienne moved to within a point of French Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint-Germain after recording a fourth successive win by beating Nantes 2-0, while Monaco slid to another home defeat, losing 3-2 to Lorient. Saint-Etienne returned to domestic action just three days after a 2-2 draw at home to Rosenborg in the UEFA Europa League and took a first-half lead at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard through a first Ligue 1 goal from teenager Jonathan Bamba. Slovenian international Robert Beric, who arrived from Rapid Vienna last month, added a second for Les Verts just after half-time to seal victory for Christophe Galtier's side.
Monaco's indifferent start to the season continued as the principality side found themselves two goals down to Lorient inside 20 minutes. Didier Ndong hammered a long-range thunderbolt beyond Monaco goalkeeper Danijel Subasic before Benjamin Jeannot added a second for the visitors. Almamy Toure pulled one back for Monaco shortly after and the hosts were back on level terms when Thomas Lemar equalised just after the interval but substitute Benjamin Moukandjo's 59th-minute strike won it for Lorient.
Earlier, Enzo Crivelli scored a minute from time to salvage a 1-1 draw for Bordeaux against ten-man Toulouse. Willy Sagnol's men, who drew against Liverpool 1-1 in the Europa League on Thursday, were heading towards defeat before 20-year-old substitute striker Crivelli bundled the ball home with his chest as time was running out. Moroccan midfielder Adrien Regattin smashed home the opening goal for the visitors in the 23rd minute but the straight red card shown to Oscar Trejo with 13 minutes left hampered their chances of holding on for maximum points.