© EuroFootball.com
On Friday and Saturday, seven matches of the 16th round of the French football championship "Ligue 1" were played. The remaining two matches will be played on Sunday evening.
In the Friday matches, the "Le Mans" club hosted the successful "Auxerre" team, but failed to offer serious resistance and had to admit defeat with a score of 0-2. Yann Lachuer and one of the most productive players of the championship, Luigi Pieroni, scored goals for the "Auxerre" team. This was already the sixth goal of the season for the football player. After this victory, "Auxerre" temporarily returned to the second place in the league table.
On Saturday, the defending champions "Lyon" unexpectedly lost two points, playing 1-1 away with the team "Nice" who are in the second half of the league table. Sidney Govou scored the equalizer for the Lyon club in the 76th minute. However, it is worth noting that despite these draws, "Lyon" remains undefeated this season and is confidently moving towards the fifth consecutive championship title.
Perhaps the most interesting match on Saturday took place in the city of Saint-Etienne, where the local team "Saint-Etienne", in 5th position in the league, hosted the players of "Bordeaux", who are in 3rd place. In the 2nd minute, to the delight of all the spectators in the stadium, the home team "Sant-Etienne" took the lead after a goal by Herita Ilunga. However, "Bordeaux" managed to equalize - it was Julien Faubert who did it in the 74th minute. In the 90th minute, "Bordeaux" player Jean-Claude Darcheville was sent off the field, but this did not have any impact on the result, as the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
"Lille" took advantage of these draws, winning at home with a minimal score of 1-0 against "Nancy" club and rising to the 5th place. The beginning of the match for the "Lille" players was very unsuccessful, as in the 24th minute their player Efstathios Tavlaridis was sent off the field for rough play. Nevertheless, despite this, the Lille club managed to take the lead in the 54th minute after a goal by Hicham Aboucherouane.
In the other Saturday matches, "Troyes" and "Metz" played to a goalless draw, "Sochaux" narrowly defeated the "Rennes" team 1-0, and "Toulouse" thrashed the "Ajaccio" club 3-0.
All 16th round results:
0 - 2 20` [0 - 1] Luigi Pieroni 67` [0 - 2] Yann Lachuer
1 - 1 2` [1 - 0] Herita Ilunga 74` [1 - 1] Julien Faubert
90` Jean-Claude Darchevile ("Bordeaux") sent off
1 - 0 54` [1 - 0] Hicham Aboucherouane
24` Efstathious Tavlaridis ("Lille") sent off
1 - 1 22` [1 - 0] Mamadu Bagayoko 76` [1 - 1] Sidney Govou
1 - 0 90` [1 - 0] Benjamin Genghini
3 - 0 17` [1 - 0] Daniel Moreira (from penalty) 59` [2 - 0] Jeremy Mathieu 90` [3 - 0] Alexandre Bonnet
0 - 0
Top scorers: (Place, player, goals)
1. Pedro Pauleta (Paris Saint Germain) 7 2-3. Daniel Cousin (Lens) 6 Luigi Pieroni (Auxerre) 6 4-7. Elie Kroupi (Nancy) 5 Sylvain Wiltord (Lyon) 5 Franck Ribery (Marseille) 5 Ilan (Sochaux) 5 8-10. Frederic Piquione (Saint-Etienne) 4 Sebastien Grax (Troyes) 4 Peguy Luyindula (Auxerre) 4
