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Over the weekend, eight matches of the 36th round of the French football championship "Ligue 1" were played, after which it was revealed that next year, "Ajaccio", "Metz", and "Strasbourg" will not play in the highest French football division. All three teams suffered defeats in the weekend matches and lost all chances to catch up with the 17th-placed team, "Troyes", who returned to "Ligue 1" this season. Besides this team, the two other newcomers, "Le Mans" and "Nancy", maintained their position in the strongest French football division. After this round, the second-place in the championship was almost secured by the "Bordeaux" team. On Sunday, "Bordeaux" tied 2-2 with "Le Mans" and now the only team still able to overtake Bordeaux is "Rennes" with a 9-point gap, but in order to do so, they need to win the remaining three matches with a very large goal difference and hope that "Bordeaux" will not earn any points in the remaining two matches. Before the weekend matches, the most realistic contender to catch up with "Bordeaux" was the "Lille" team, but on Friday, they unexpectedly lost to "Lens" with a score of 4-1 and dropped out of the race for the second place. Furthermore, in case "Rennes" wins, "Lille" will have to concede the third position to this team. The reigning champions "Lyon" achieved an impressive victory during the weekend, defeating the struggling "Saint-Etienne" with a score of 4-0 at home. This was already the 24th victory for the Lyon club out of 36 matches. Results of the 36th round: 4-2 9` [1-0] Olivier Thomert 40` [2-0] Daniel Cousin (penalty) 43` [3-0] Seydou Keita 51` [3-1] Peter Odemwingie 53` [4-1] Pierre-Alain Frau 70` [4-2] Kader Keita 90` Yohan Demont ("Lens") and Kevin Mirallas ("Lille") sent off 3-1 4` [0-1] Laurent Batlles 48` [1-1] Sebastien Dallet 79` [2-1] Sebastien Grax 81` [3-1] Ziad Jaziri 1-3 16` [1-0] Amare Diane 20` [1-1] Elie Kroupi 24` [1-2] Elie Kroupi 32` [1-3] Elie Kroupi (penalty) 1-1 27` [0-1] Aurelien Capoue 90` [1-1] Ernesto Chevanton 0-3 3` [0-1] David Bellion 32` [0-2] Bakary Kone 76` [0-3] Bakary Kone 2-2 19` [0-1] Ismael Bangoura 38` [1-1] Marouane Chamakh (penalty) 52` [2-1] Jean-Claude Darcheville 80` [2-2] Grafite 0-1 57` [0-1] Mickael Isabey 4-0 9` [1-0] David Hellebuyck (own goal) 39` [2-0] Fred 56` [3-0] Juninho (penalty) 81` [4-0] Benoit Pedretti Top scorers: (Position, player, goals) 1. Pedro Pauleta ("P.S.G") 20 2. Daniel Cousin ("Lens") 13 3-4. Sylvain Wiltord ("Lyon") 12 Peter Odemwingie ("Lille") 12 5-7. John Utaka ("Rennes") 11 Araujo Ilan ("Sochaux") 11 Fred ("Lyon") 11 8. Peguy Luyindula ("Auxerre") 10 9-10. Luigi Pieroni ("Auxerre") 9 Mamadou Niang ("Marseille") 9 League table:
