Matchday 23 – Marseille and Paris hate each other to a draw, Lyon sucks once again

By: Sam | February 4th, 2007

This weekend’s matches were overshadowed by the big, bad, OM-PSG, like they tend to be. However, Lyon made a valiant effort to work their way onto the first page, and this by losing against then-17th placed Troyes. Five league games without a win, plus a defeat in Coupe de France. Correct me if I’m incorrect, but that ain’t good.

Firstly, Marseille-Paris. In front of a crowd doing their best rendition of a Cape Canveral lift-off, the two hated rivals played the first half very evenly, with Paris SG getting chances early and Marseille almost scoring late in the first frame. After forty-five minutes of gritty and exciting action, the score was still 0-0. OM came back from the locker room with more spring in their step, and were unlucky not to draw first blood when the young Nasri shook Landreau’s right post early. Twenty minutes later, however, Niang’s missed shot quickly found its way to Djibril Cissé, who plowed it home on the far side and set the stadium on fire. PSG’s main man Pauleta then had the brilliant idea to tie the score, and tie the score he did after a PSG free kick that found its way onto his foot, where he made no mistake to give the visitors hope. Was he offside? Once I get a video, it’ll be up to you to decide. That would be that, and the draw proved to be a logical score for two teams that fought very hard. But still, a draw in a game like this is no fun.

Olympique Lyonnais, who you might know are not at the peak of their awesomeness of late, dropped points for the fifth straight time in the league, this time against ES Troyes AC, who were barely out of the relegation zone before the match started. They looked in no way like a Ligue 2 team in the early going, however, when Danic’s volley smashed Coupet’s goalpost on nine minutes. Eighty minutes later, following a non-excessive parade of decent saves by both keepers, Troyes’ Benjamin Nivet found net in the last seconds, pasting the ball through a sea of legs to give them three crucial points. With the loss, Lyon are now eleven points away from second place Lens.

The same Lens that produced a fine performance in their derby match against fellow nordiste Valenciennes. Carrière was the first to show signs of life, and did so in the best way possible, scoring a fine-tuned effort in the 28th minute. Seydou Keita, who is quite on fire these past few weeks, provided an insurance goal just before half-time. Back in the second, it was the now-top scorer in the league, Valenciennes’ Steve Savidan who cut the lead in half from the penalty spot. Lens, though, proved too strong in injury time with Jemaa lefting the ball into Penneteau’s far corner to ice it. Lens has a one-point lead over Lille, third.

With Sedan dwelling in the cellar, and coming off an impressive comeback last week in Lens, you’d think Saint-Étienne would end up taking all the points at home against CSSA. Well… It was them that scored first, through their reborn striker Gomis, who won his duel with Regnault after ten minutes of play. After only three minutes into the second half, it was Sedan’s Job who leveled, after a fine pass from Boutabout. Half an hour from time, Diatta would go and score an own goal to help Sedan get three points away from leaving the red zone. 2-1 final.

Other scores: Lille 0-0 Nantes; Lorient 2-1 Le Mans; Monaco 2-1 Auxerre; Nancy 2-1 Toulouse; Nice 2-1 Bordeaux; Sochaux 0-0 Rennes