Matchday 26 – Why win when you can draw in style?

By: Sam | February 26th, 2007

By that I mean Lyon’s injury-time two-goal comeback to nullify Sochaux’s earlier heroics Saturday at Gerland. Also happening was Toulouse humiliating Marseille, Saint-Étienne coolly beating PSG, and Nice surprising Lille with an exciting triumph.

With Sochaux looking to occupy a podium spot, Lyon knew they were in for a tough game, and got the message early enough, when Alavaro Santos gallopped and slotted home the first after Ziani’s masterful through ball. Ziani then converted a penalty twenty minutes later to put the visitors 2-0 up, quite the surprise let me tell you. Five minutes from half-time, Milan Baros cut the lead in half when Richert mishandled a tricky cross. Richert redeemed himself, however, when he closed the door to Juninho twice in the space of three minutes near the hour mark. The game seemed done and done when Sébastien Grax cabeza’d Sochaux’s third on 86 minutes. But wait! Atthe90thminuteWiltordscorestobringthescoreto3-2andthreeminuteslatertherefwhistlesapenaltytoLyon!Juninhostepsupandconvertsit! Final whistle. Thirteen points clear of second place. Phew. Sochaux, perhaps a tad irritated, hold fourth place.

And who’s in third? Get this: Toulouse. And how did they get there? By making Olympique de Marseille look like a bunch of six-year olds in the early game on Saturday. Téfécé didn’t waste time (well, I guess they kind of did) to get in the game and hit Carrasso’s crossbar on thirteen minutes. The thirty-ninth was the one they needed. The ever clever Swede Jonas Elmander dribbled past OM’s keeper and tacked it into the back of the net. Not three minutes after the start of the second stanza, Emana fed Elmander, who gave defender Ronald Zubar the little “how’s she doing” and popped in the finish past a sorry Carrasso. Achille Emana would be the final nail in the coffin when he found net with what the French call a ballon piqué Marseille are now eighth after five matches without a win.

Paris Saint-Germain had the chance to keep up their good stretch and haul themselves even clearer out of the red zone when they hosted the surging Saint-Étienne at Parc des Princes. ASSE’s Damien Perquis grazed Sablé’s header into Landreau’s net to celebrate his first child’s birth with his first Ligue 1 goal. Les Verts’s Brazilian Ilan slapped PSG in the face just before half time with a beauty of a bicycle kick to put his side 2-0 up. That would be that after a less-than-eventful second half, and in a night of firsts, Saint-Étienne recorded, amazingly, only their first win on the road against PSG ever.

Nice, looking mighty fine the last few weeks, was welcoming Lille to their home and was hoping to capitalize on Lille’s fatigue and ANGER, MERCILESS ANGER from the ManU game to record their fourth straight win. OGCN’s young and talented keeper Hugo Lloris was sharp in the first half-hour turning away several decent strikes from Lille’s midfielders. On thirty-five minutes, tempers flared, and Plestan and Balmont were sent off for lack of love. With more space, Ivoirian international and celebrity midget Bakary Koné broke through and scored the opener. Not to go down without a fight, LOSC’s Cabaye pranced through Nice’s so-so defense and tied the score at the hour mark. Ten minutes from time, Koné was johnny on the spot to pot (oh yeah, you know it) Nice’s second goal, and to secure their fourth win in a row, which, bizzarely, has them only one point out of the bottom three. Lille, on the other hand, missed an opportunity to sit in third and must settle for a provisional fifth. (Intertoto Cup!)

Other scores: Le Mans 0-2 Monaco; Nantes 1-1 Auxerre; Rennes 0-2 Sedan; Troyes 3-0 Lorient; Lens 2-2 Nancy; Bordeaux 2-1 Valenciennes