In the first day of the French championship match between "Nice" and "Dijon", the biggest star of the first club, Mario Balotelli, stood out once again.
In the 40th minute, the Italian converted a penalty earned by Alassane Plea and, as it turned out later, that was the only goal of the game. He brought victory to "Nice", after which the team moved away from the relegation zone.
However, Balotelli showed himself in a negative light at the end of the match. The striker managed to commit a serious foul against opponent defender Cedric Yambere and received a red card before his eyes.
After some time, "Marseille" left no hope for "Caen" players in the first match. The latter held on for almost the entire first half, but a goal by Luiz Gustavo just before the break allowed the port city team to relax completely.
Florian Thauvin and Morgan Sanson scored early in the second half, and later the match ended with a goal by Kostas Mitroglou and another by Thauvin. This allowed "Marseille" to maintain fourth place.
Meanwhile, the unexpected relegation zone team "Lille" achieved victory against another outsider, defeating the "Metz" team with a score of 3-0. Nicolas Pepe scored a brace here, and Fares Bahlouli added another goal.
Late in the evening, the clash between "Saint-Etienne" and "Lyon" took place. Before the start of the match, it could have been considered the central game of the round, but Genesio's players dominated on the field.
Memphis Depay scored in the 11th minute, and just before half-time, Nabil Fekir defeated the opponents' goalkeeper with a long-range shot.
In the 47th minute, the same Fekir provoked a mistake by Leo Lacroix, for which the latter received a red card, making the outcome of the match completely clear. After goals by Mariano Diaz and Bertrand Traore and another precise shot by Fekir, the result was already 5-0.
However, although the match was approaching its end, right after the last incident, the match had to be temporarily stopped as the players could no longer control their emotions and started pushing each other. Moreover, fans started flooding the field, requiring a large security presence to stop them.
The match was finally extended and after replacing Fekir, "Lyon" achieved a resounding victory.
Results:
"Nice" 1 - 0 "Dijon" [1-0] 40' Mario Balotelli (from a penalty) 89' Mario Balotelli ("Nice") sent off the field
"Marseille" 5 - 0 "Caen" [1-0] 43' Luiz Gustavo [2-0] 47' Florian Thauvin [3-0] 52' Morgan Sanson [4-0] 76' Konstantinos Mitroglou [5-0] 81' Florian Thauvin
"Metz" 0 - 3 "Lille" [0-1] 45' Nicolas Pepe (from a penalty) [0-2] 67' Fares Bahlouli [0-3] 87' Nicolas Pepe
"Saint-Etienne" 0 - 5 "Lyon" [0-1] 11' Memphis Depay [0-2] 26' Nabil Fekir 47' Leo Lacroix ("Saint-Etienne") sent off the field [0-3] 58' Mariano Diaz [0-4] 65' Bertrand Traore [0-5] 86' Nabil Fekir
