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During the weekend, the matches of the 12th round of the French football championship "Ligue 1" were played. The biggest surprise was provided by the "Rennes" club, which played very inconsistently this season, managing to defeat the defending champion and previously undefeated "Lyon" with a minimal advantage at home.
In the match held at the Route de Lorient stadium, the home team "Rennes" footballers showed from the very beginning of the match that they were not planning to give up easily and were the first to break through. In the 13th minute of the match, Stephane Imbia scored the first, and as it later turned out, the only goal of the match. After conceding the goal, "Lyon" tried to attack, but "Rennes" successfully defended and won the game. Moreover, in the 76th minute, the leader of the "Lyon" team, Juninho Penambucano, received a red card and was sent off the field.
Following their first defeat, "Lyon" failed to take advantage of the recent slump of the "Marseille" club. The team, which was in second place before this round, had to admit the advantage of the newcomer "Lorient" with a 0-1 loss at home and dropped to the 6th position with 20 points.
Meanwhile, in the second position after this round is the team of "Nancy", which has amazed football experts this season. The winners of last season's French league Cup defeated the current vice-champion "Bordeaux" at home with a score of 2-1 in this round. "Nancy" took the lead when Sebastien Puygrenier scored in the 15th minute, and although Jean-Claude Darcheville managed to equalize in the 31st minute, Moncef Zerka successfully converted an 11-meter penalty into a goal for "Bordeaux" at the beginning of the second half and secured the victory for his team.
The "Lens" club continues to play successful matches, rapidly climbing to the top of the league table. In this round, "Lens" defeated the "P.S.G" team in the capital with a score of 1-3 and currently occupies the 4th position in "Ligue 1". Worth mentioning is that "Lens" was trailing 1-0 after the first half, but demonstrated their supremacy in the second half and scored 3 goals without a response. Two of these goals were scored by Daniel Cousin, who appeared on the field only in the second half.
"We did not play at all in the first half, so it was impossible to perform worse in the second half," said "Lens" coach Francois Gillotas after the match. "I sent Daniel Cousin onto the field because I saw during training that he had fully recovered and was in excellent form."
Results of the 12th round:
1 - 0
13` [1 - 0] Stephane M`Bia
76` Juninho ("Lyon") sent off
1 - 0
68` [1 - 0] Guirane Ndaw
0 - 0
0 - 3
24` [0 - 1] Nicolas Fauvergue
61` [0 - 2] Peter Odemwingie
90` [0 - 3] Yohan Cabaye
0 - 1
48` [0 - 1] Pierre-Andre Gignac
2 - 3
15` [0 - 1] Ibrahima Bangoura
56` [1 - 1] Kanga Akale
78` [2 - 1] Luigi Pieroni (from 11m.)
81` [2 - 2] Ibrahima Bangoura (from 11m.)
90` [2 - 3] Ibrahima Bangoura
1 - 1
44` [0 - 1] Dimitri Payet
62` [1 - 1] Gregory Pujol
3 - 0
11` [1 - 0] Vincent Hognon
23` [2 - 0] Bafetibis Gomis
87` [3 - 0] Bafetibis Gomis
2 - 1
15` [1 - 0] Sebastien Puygrenier
31` [1 - 1] Jean-Claude Darcheville
55` [2 - 1] Moncef Zerka (from 11m.)
1 - 3
27` [1 - 0] Sylvain Armand
50` [1 - 1] Daniel Cousin
67` [1 - 2] Daniel Cousin
81` [1 - 3] Olivier Thomert
League Table:
