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On Saturday, seven matches of the 26th round took place in the French "Ligue 1" championship. Unexpected victories were achieved by the teams at the bottom of the tournament table - "Sedan", "Nice", and "Troyes".
The absolute underdog of the tournament, "Sedan", met the in-form team "Rennes" in this round and unexpectedly beat them 0-2. "Sedan" took the lead in the 14th minute with an experienced Gregory Pujol scoring the goal.
This result lasted almost the entire match until just under 10 minutes remained, and "Sedan" scored a second goal - Mansour Boutabout made it 2-0. However, this victory did not allow the "Sedan" team to climb from the bottom of the table, but they are now only one point behind the 19th placed "Nantes" team.
Another unexpected victory was achieved by the "Nice" team on Saturday, defeating the high-ranking "Lille" club 2-1 at home. Both teams were forced to play with ten men from the 34th minute due to unsportsmanlike conduct by Florent Balmont and Nicolas Plestan.
The first goal of the match came at the end of the first half - Bakari Kone scored for "Lille" in the 43rd minute. After the break, "Lille" equalized through Yohan Cabaye in the 61st minute. However, Bakari Kone had the final say, scoring his second goal in the 84th minute to secure the victory for "Nice".
Another unexpected result was recorded in Toulouse, where the home team "Toulouse" hosted the "Marseille" club and convincingly defeated them 3-0. The star of the match was the Swedish national team striker Johan Elmander, who scored two goals for "Marseille".
The leaders, the "Lyon" club, dropped two points in the championship this time. The French champions met the "Sochaux" club at home and managed to score two goals in added time to salvage a draw. "Sochaux" took the lead in the 9th minute with a goal from Brazilian striker Santos.
With just four minutes to go until the end of the match, another goal was scored in the champion's net - young Sebastien Grax found the target. Just when it seemed like "Sochaux" would secure a convincing victory, Lyon striker Sylvain Wiltord scored a precise goal in the last minute of the match, and in added time, the referee awarded a penalty kick, which Juninho successfully converted, securing a point for his team.
Results of Saturday's matches:
- 3 - 0
- 39` [1 - 0] Johan Elmander
- 48` [2 - 0] Johan Elmander
- 63` [3 - 0] Achille Emana
- 0 - 2
- 15` [0 - 1] Frederic Piquionne
- 47` [0 - 2] Diego Perez
- 3 - 3
- 9` [0 - 1] Santos
- 29` [0 - 2] Karim Ziani (from 11m.)
- 40` [1 - 2] Milan Baros
- 86` [1 - 3] Sebastien Grax
- 90` [2 - 3] Sylvain Wiltord
- 90` [3 - 3] Juninho (from 11m.)
- 1 - 1
- 18` [0 - 1] Bruno Cheyrou
- 72` [1 - 1] Claudiu Keseru
- 2 - 1
- 43` [1 - 0] Bakari Kone
- 61` [1 - 1] Yohan Cabaye
- 84` [2 - 1] Bakari Kone
35` Florent Balmont ("Nice") and Nicolas Plestan ("Lille") were sent off
- 0 - 2
- 14` [0 - 1] Gregory Pujol
- 83` [0 - 2] Mansour Boutabout
- 3 - 0
- 1` [1 - 0] Gael Danic
- 38` [2 - 0] David Gigliotti
- 69` [3 - 0] Gael Danic
Tournament table:
