Matchday 28 – Marseille almost produces another miracle, PSG is still L1-incompetent

By: Sam | March 12th, 2007

Only ten games to go in the season, and (geez, who doesn’t say this) things are heating up quite yummily. I daresay first place is a sure thing at this point, with Lyon sittin’ pretty with a thirteen-point lead on second place, which is Lens, who have six points more than the next competitor. Apart from that, places 3-10 are all within five points of each other. Matchday 28 showcased some matchups between those guys that will surely have a big impact on how the season ends.

The grande affiche was of course le choc des olympiques last Sunday at Stade Gerland, opposing Olympique Lyonnais to Olympique de Marseille. An excellent performance by OM’s goalkeeper Cedric Carrasso held the score at 1-1.

The first half started defensively on the pitch, as fans from both sides were rising to the occasion rather nicely. Baros got the first opportunity on eleven minutes but was too late to catch a rebound on Tiago’s shot, saved by Carrasso. The young man who played for Crystal Palace two years ago was sharp five minutes later, when he punched away Juninho’s free-kick in Barthez-like fashion. He could do nothing in the twentieth minute, when Civelli clumsily cleared the ball right to Baros, who made no mistake and put the lions up on the board. Marseille woke up just before the half-hour mark, when Cissé got a decent header off Taiwo’s cross but found the solid hands of Coupet. Benzema’s shot minutes later narrowly missed the near post, and following that Maoulida clipped the crossbar. No less than two minutes later, Juninho’s free-kick sailed wide by a hair. The first half honours undoubtedly went to Lyon.

Lyon was still in charge at the start of the second half, provoking a booking for Civelli, and seeing Wiltord’s shot bang off the post. Things going back and forth for a good fifteen minutes, Lyon got a very decent chance, and Cédric Carrasso was again the better man and slapped Juninho’s free-kick out of his danger area. Cana got the chance to equalize on 85 minutes, but Coupet turned that away with a strong hand. No such luck for the Bleu two minutes later, when Cissé sprung Niang, who deftly went around Coupet and slotted home the equalizer. Lyon can thank their stars OM didn’t make it two like they had earlier in the Coupe de France. Niang had a similar try but couldn’t buy a second, his shot was stopped and put out of play. At the end of the game, OM was happy with their well-deserved point but still linger in an unsatisfactory 8th place. Lyon on the other hand, couldn’t really care less table-wise, but must feel a little irritated.

The other big story this season is of course the suckage of Paris Saint-Germain. While they are doing mighty fine in the UEFA Cup, a handful of PSG supporters are alledgedly not happy with the current 19th place of their team. They were once again trying to get out of the red zone as they hosted Auxerre on Sunday. Both sides got a few so-so opportunities early on before AJA’s Kanga Akalé got a not-so-great header onto Landreau’s helpful post. Both sides then got a near miss each, from Kahlenberg and Pauleta, two minutes apart. Younes Kaboul, Auxerre’s stalwart defender, broke through on a corner and found the ball at his feet, which he banged home without asking any questions, five minutes before half-time. Three minutes into the second, Dramé spotted Sorin out of position and sent a long ball onto the net, which hit the crossbar. On 56 minutes, Pauleta’s shot was nicely pushed away by Sorin. Ten minutes later, Landreau produced some skill of his own when he turned away Niculae. Ten minutes from time, Landreau once again kept his team’s hopes alive when he denied a good header by Jelen. That would be that, and Auxerre sent PSG into second-last place. Sniff. Sniff. I smell crisis.

Lens, second, was playing Sedan, last, in a match that they thought could more or less secure their second place finish. Maybe they took the match for granted, because after one hundred seconds of play, Pujol coolly switched the ball into Itandje’s opposite corner to give the lanterne rouge a surprise lead. That lead was canceled on the half-hour mark, however, when Tixier’s perfect free kick found Keita, who smash smash smashed the ball home on a beautiful header. The two sides got a chance a piece around the 70-minute mark, but Pujol was denied a brace by the firm fists of Itandje, and Monterrubio denied by the post. A few yellow cards finished off this one, with Lens six points in front of Lille and Sedan two points behind Paris.

Other scores: Le Mans 2-1 Saint-Étienne; Troyes 1-3 Valenciennes; Bordeaux 2-0 Sochaux; Lorient 0-0 Lille; Nantes 2-1 Nancy; Nice 1-1 Rennes; Toulouse 1-1 Monaco

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