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When everyone impatiently awaited the upcoming Christmas, the French football stadiums were boiling with battles over the weekend - the first round of the "Ligue 1" championship matches came to an end.
On Friday, the "Marseille" and "Saint-Etienne" clubs, fighting for positions in Europe, tested their skills first. Despite recent poor form, this time the home team "Marseille" was superior, beating their opponents 2-1. The first goal for "Marseille" was scored in the 9th minute by Djibril Cisse, the forward of the French national team who scored his first goal of the season after recovering from a serious injury. At the end of the first half, the Czech legionnaire Marek Heinze of "Saint-Etienne" managed to equalize the score, but in the 64th minute, Mickael Pagis's accurate shot once again put "Marseille" ahead.
On Saturday, the firmly leading "Lyon" lost two points at home in a goalless draw with the recently reviving "Monaco" club. This result did not matter much for "Lyon" in the tournament table, as the club is currently leading its nearest pursuers by as much as 15 points, but the point earned by "Monaco" in the 15th place playing against the leaders may be crucial later.
An interesting match took place on Saturday in Nice, where the home team "Nice" with one player more on the field could not maintain their advantage and lost to "Lens" with a score of 1-2. "Nice" took the lead in the 26th minute when Bakary Kone scored a goal. In the 64th minute, the situation for "Lens" became even more difficult as Nenad Kovacevic was sent off with a second yellow card. However, as it turned out later, this only woke up the "Lens" players, and Jussie Ferreira and Aruna Dindane scored two goals one after another in the 75th and 79th minutes, securing a victory for their team.
A similar match scenario unfolded for the "Sochaux" club, which finished the first round in 3rd place. In the match against the "Nancy" team, "Sochaux" fell behind after Sebastien Puygrenier scored in the 12th minute, but in the second half Karim Ziani scored two goals in the 62nd and 66th minutes, leading "Sochaux" to victory.
In the last match of the round, Paris' "P.S.G" team ended the first round with a draw, illustrating their unsuccessful performance in the championship this season. In this round match against the underdog "Troyes" team, the Parisian club took the lead first when Amara Diane scored in the 47th minute. However, "P.S.G" could not maintain their advantage and in the 74th minute Sylvain Armand scored an own goal, giving their opponents a draw.
Finally, the "Nantes" club climbed out of the relegation zone with a stunning 4-0 victory against "Toulouse." It is worth noting that all four goals for "Nantes" were scored in the last 25 minutes of the match, with Julio Hernan Rossi, Mauro Cetto, Dennis Oliech, and Mamadou Diallo contributing to the victory.
