© EuroFootball.com
On Saturday, eight games of the 27th round of the French "Ligue 1" championship were played. Convincing victories were achieved by the "Lyon" and "Lille" clubs, while the struggling Paris "P.S.G" suffered another setback and found themselves in the relegation zone. The match between the "Lyon" and "Saint-Etienne" clubs caused a lot of talk even before the weekend, when "Lyon" president Jean-Michel Aulas stated that the second "Lyon" team would take the field in this match. However, this was just words and on Saturday, the main players of the "Ligue 1" champions took to the field from the very beginning of the match, having no trouble with the "Saint-Etienne" players and comfortably leading 2-0 after the first half. After playing just a couple of minutes in the second half following Fred's precise shot, "Lyon's" lead became overwhelming and then the nerves of the "Saint-Etienne" fans could not hold - smoke bombs started to be thrown onto the field, so the match referee was forced to temporarily stop the game. The match resumed after a 20-minute break. This forced break seemed to benefit the "Saint-Etienne" players more, who, after the 80th minute goal by Batefim Gomis, softened the result. However, that was all the "Saint-Etienne" players could do. This was the fourth consecutive failure of this team in front of their own fans. It is worth mentioning that "Saint-Etienne" has not been able to beat the "Lyon" team for over 10 years - the last time they managed to do so was in 1994. The "Lille" club also achieved a convincing victory on Saturday, not sparing the "Toyes" team at home and crushing them with a 4-0 result. The Lily players gained an undeniable advantage after two goals by Abdulkader Keita and one by Stephane Dumont before the half-time break, and just at the beginning of the second half the same S.Dumont scored his second goal and put the final nail in the coffin for "Toyes" in this match. After this victory, "Lille", fighting for a place in the UEFA Champions League, temporarily moved up to the 3rd position in the league table, while "Troyes" in 16th place remains one of the weakest teams in the league. The season continues to be tragic for one of the most powerful French football teams, "P.S.G". The club, which recently appointed Paul Le Guen as head coach, was eliminated from the French Cup tournament this week, and in the "Ligue 1" match on Saturday, they lost 2-0 away to the bottom-placed team "Sedan" and found themselves in the relegation zone. "Sedan" took the lead in the 7th minute already, when "P.S.G" goalkeeper Mickael Landreau redirected the ball into his own net. With the advantage gained, Sedan players successfully defended and in the 73rd minute, Mansour Boutabout's precise shot forced M.Landreau to pull the ball out of his team's net for the second time. After this defeat, the Paris team with 28 points after 27 matches occupies the 18th position, one point behind the 17th placed "Valenciennes" club, and just three points ahead of the advancing "Sedan". The bottom-placed "Nantes" is behind the capital team by 5 points but has played fewer matches and with some luck, could reduce this gap to two. Results of Saturday's matches: 1 - 3 27` [0 - 1] Kim Kallstrom 38` [0 - 2] Tiago 47` [0 - 3] Fred 80` [1 - 3] Batefimi Gomis 4 - 0 16` [1 - 0] Abdulkader Keita 19` [2 - 0] Stephane Dumont 35` [3 - 0] Abdulkader Keita 46` [4 - 0] Stephane Dumont 0 - 0 0 - 0 0 - 0 1 - 1 37` [1 - 0] Damian Rojas Macaluso 74` [1 - 1] Grafite 2 - 0 7` [1 - 0] Mickael Landreau (own goal) 73` [2 - 0] Mansour Boutabout 1 - 0 64` [1 - 0] Ireneusz Jelen Top scorers: (Position, player, club, goals) 1. Steve Savidan ("Valenciennes") 13 2-3. Pedro Pauleta ("P.S.G") 10 Aruna Dindane ("Lens") 10 4-5. Ilan ("Saint-Etienne") 9 Fred ("Lyon") 9 6-10. Ismael Bangoura ("Le Mans") 8 Kanga Akale ("Auxerre") 8 Seydou Keita ("Lens") 8 Juninho ("Lyon") 8 David Gigliotti ("Troyes") 8 League table
