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Over the weekend, there were matches of the 23rd round of the French "Ligue 1" championship, during which a few unexpected results were recorded, with the main reason likely being the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt, in which many players from French teams are competing.
The first surprise in this round was recorded in Nice, where the local team "Nice" managed to defeat Paris "P.S.G" club by a minimal score of 1-0. Following this setback, the Parisians further complicated their situation in the fight for the 2nd place in the standings.
Another surprise in this round was delivered by the Bordeaux club. Bordeaux players defeated the outsider "Strasbourg" 2-1 at home, increasing their lead over the 3rd placed "Auxerre" team by 4 points. However, Auxerre has played one fewer game.
Another surprise came from the underdog team "Ajaccio", who at home crushed the "Marseille" team, which is currently missing several key players participating in Egypt, by 3-1. The winners scored two goals through Waldir Lucas Pereira.
Due to the same reason, the "Saint-Etienne" club, who had been fiercely fighting for the top of the table so far, played hopelessly over the weekend. The Saint-Etienne players had no chance to rescue anything on the road and were simply crushed by the "Sochaux" team 4-0.
The 5th placed "Lille" team also had no luck, as they failed to defeat "Toulouse" and ended up with a draw, increasing their score by only 1 point.
The last two remaining matches of the 23rd round will be played on Sunday evening when "Lens" will face "Monaco" and "Lyon" will face "Auxerre".
Results of the 23rd round:
3 - 1
12' [1 - 0] Waldir Lucas Pereira
45' [1 - 1] Mickael Pagis
55' [2 - 1] Waldir Lucas Pereira
88' [3 - 1] Moussa N`Diaye
1 - 0
87' [1 - 0] Sammy Traore
4 - 0
45' [1 - 0] Jeremy Menez (pen.)
52' [2 - 0] Araujo Ilan
60' [3 - 0] Moumouni Dagano (pen.)
90' [4 - 0] Moumouni Dagano
45' Alaeddine Yahia ("Saint-Etienne") sent off the field
2 - 1
9' [0 - 1] Ulrich Le Pen (pen.)
36' [1 - 1] Fernando
90' [2 - 1] Julien Faubert
41' Ahmed Abou Moslem Farag ("Strasbourg") sent off the field
1 - 3
30' [0 - 1] Daisuke Matsui
34' [0 - 2] Daisuke Matsui
59' [1 - 2] Benjamin Nivet
79' [1 - 3] Cedric Faure
0 - 2
58' [0 - 1] Jonathan Brison
90' [0 - 2] Emmanuel Duchemin
70' Jonathan Brison ("Nancy") sent off the field
1 - 4
29' [1 - 0] Gregory Proment
23' [1 - 1] Loick Guillon
42' [1 - 2] Mamadou Diallo
60' [1 - 3] Mamadou Diallo
90' [1 - 4] Dimitri Payet
0 - 0
Top scorers: (Position, player, goals)
1. Pedro Pauleta (Paris Saint Germain) 12
2-4. Daniel Cousin (Lens) 8
Sylvain Wiltord (Lyon) 8
Peguy Luyindula (Auxerre) 8
5. Luigi Pieroni (Auxerre) 7
6-8. Vincius De Melo (Le Mans) 6
Peter Odemwingie (Lille) 6
Sebastien Grax (Troyes) 6
9-10. Olivier Thomert (Lens) 5
Aruna Dinaden (Lens) 5
League standings:
