More goals in Marseille and Monaco clash
The match in the South of France didn’t disappoint again, with two goals inside the opening seven minutes. Keita Balde cut through the Marseille defence with relative ease before expertly lifting the ball over the advancing Steve Mandanda.
Marseille responded almost immediately through an unlikely source, as defender Adil Rami headed past Danijel Subasic. Valere Germain then netted against his former side straight after the break to put Marseille 2-1 up.
They held the lead for just a minute longer than Monaco though, with Fabinho undertaking a fabulous solo run and then placing it into the net off the inside of the post. Jemerson thought he had restored Monaco’s advantage five minutes later, but it was disallowed for offside.
Cavani breaks scoring record
Paris Saint-Germain returned to winning ways in the league against a Montpellier side that they drew with earlier in the season and has held Lyon, Marseille and Monaco (twice). Edinson Cavani broke the deadlock to become PSG’s all-time top goal scorer with his 257th for the club.
Neymar added a second from the penalty spot five minutes before half-time and on this occasion, the Parc des Princes supporters were happy for the Brazilian to take it. Angel Di Maria scored his eighth goal in his last nine appearances in all competitions following Thomas Meunier’s cutback.
Neymar was denied his second of the game after he used his hands to control the ball. However, he did get his brace when he was set-up for an easy finish by Cavani’s clever cross late on.
Lyon do a Liverpool
The impressive victory over PSG last weekend was undone, as Lyon lost 3-1 to Bordeaux at the Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux. Gus Poyet couldn’t have asked for a better start to his managerial term at Les Girondins.
All the goals were in a frantic opening 45 minutes. Nicolas de Preville finished an impressive counter attack and then Malcom scored a penalty after he dubiously fell to the ground.
Marcelo gave Lyon hope when he headed in a corner, with De Preville unable to clear off the line. However, goalkeeper Anthony Lopes took Maxime Poundje’s feet away from him just two minutes later and Gaetan Laborde dispatched the resulting spot-kick to make it a more comfortable second half.
Metz shock Nice
Two goals from Nolan Roux saw Metz defeat Nice, with Mario Balotelli scoring off a rebound from his own penalty in-between. The in-form Roux has now been involved in six out of the last nine goals for bottom side Metz.
They have now won six out of their last eight matches in all competitions, although they are still seven points from safety. Metz had previously won only two from 19, as relegation seemed certain.
“Nice played well but we wanted to press them and unsettle them high up the field, and it worked,” admitted Metz boss Frederic Hantz. “If we want to keep advancing, there are things we need to keep doing and other things we need to improve on.”
Dijon’s home form keeps them comfortable
Dijon may have conceded 11 goals last week including the 8-0 thrashing at the hands of PSG, but they have a surprisingly decent record at the Stade Gaston Gerard. They have lost just three times at home this season and won an incredible six out of their last seven.
Their latest triumph on their own turf was the 2-1 victory over Rennes on Friday night. Olivier Dall’Oglio kept a similar side to the one which performed so well against Strasbourg last weekend, although it contained seven changes from the team that was humiliated by PSG.
Florent Balmont opened the scoring on the half-hour mark, with Ismaila Sarr drawing the sides level four minutes from the break. Julio Taveres netted his fourth goal in as many games to give Dijon their first win since the middle of December.
Honourable mentions
Both Toulouse and Angers beat their relegation rivals 1-0 to give them much needed three points. Angers defeated Amiens, whilst Toulouse won against Troyes, which meant that five of the bottom seven sides all won. There’s just four points that separate 19thplaced Toulouse and the seven teams directly above them in the table.
