© EuroFootball.com
On Saturday, eight matches of the 18th round of the French "Ligue 1" championship were played. Two more matches will be played on Sunday evening.
The opportunity to temporarily reduce the gap from the current championship leader "Lyon", who did not play on Saturday, was not taken by the second-placed team "Auxerre". They had to admit the superiority of the "Marseille" club with a score of 1-0. The only goal of the match was scored by "Marseille" at the very beginning of the match - in the 2nd minute by Mamadou Niang. After this victory, the Marseille team climbed from 10th place to 6th place with 28 points.
With the same result, the third-placed "Bordeaux" club also lost to their opponents. The Bordeaux players had to play with ten men from the 21st minute and had to admit the newcomers "Le Mans" advantage after a 43rd-minute goal by Ibrahimos Bangoura.
After several unsuccessful matches in a row, the capital's "P.S.G" club finally won, defeating the "Rennes" team 2-0 at home after two goals by Pedro Pauleta. After these matches, Pauleta with 12 goals solidified his position at the top of the list of the championship's most productive players, outpacing his closest pursuer Luigi Pieroni from the "Auxerre" team by 5 goals.
An important victory in this round was also achieved by the last-placed team in the standings, "Strasbourg", who moved up to the 11th position after defeating the "Nancy" team 2-1 away. It is worth mentioning that this was the first victory for Strasbourg's players this year.
All Saturday match results:
0 - 0
2 - 1 6` [0 - 1] Sebastien Grax 45` [1 - 1] Bryan Bergougnoux 90` [2 - 1] Jeremy Mathieu
1 - 1 3` [1 - 0] Mickael Isabey 10` [1 - 1] Jung-Hwan Ahn
2 - 0 39` [1 - 0] Pedro Pauleta 63` [2 - 0] Pedro Pauleta
1 - 0 47` [1 - 0] Bakary Kone 56` Martian Robin ("Ajaccio") sent off
1 - 2 38` [0 - 1] Mickael Pagis (from 11m.) 47` [1 - 1] Moncef Zerka 52` [1 - 2] Amara Diane 59` Yves Deroff ("Strasbourg") sent off
1 - 0 2` [1 - 0] Mamadou Niang
1 - 0 43` [1 - 0] Ibrahima Bangoura 21` Fernando ("Bordeaux") sent off
1. Pedro Pauleta (Paris Saint Germain) 12 2-3. Daniel Cousin (Lens) 7 Luigi Pieroni (Auxerre) 7 4. Peguy Luyindula (Auxerre) 6 5-10. Elie Kroupi (Nancy) 5 Sylvain Wiltord (Lyon) 5 Franck Ribery (Marseille) 5 Ilan (Sochaux) 5 Olivier Thomert (Lens) 5 John Carew (Lyon) 5
