France round-up: Auxerre defeat nine-man Strasbourg

Ivory Coast midfield player Kanga Gauthier Akale and compatriot Bonaventure Kalou were both on target in AJ Auxerre's 3-2 home win against RC Strasbourg in the French First Division.

Early opener
Akale opened the scoring for Guy Roux's side in the tenth minute, collecting a pass from Yann Lachuer to beat Vincent Fernandez, and two minutes past the half-hour it was 2-0 as Kalou evaded three defenders to shoot past the Strasbourg goalkeeper.

Red cards
Danijel Ljuboja pulled a goal back for the visitors before half-time but Strasbourg were reduced to ten men nine minutes from time as Fernandez was shown the red card for a foul on Djibril Cissé and Lionel Mathis restored Auxerre's two-goal lead six minutes later. Strasbourg pulled another goal back almost immediately through striker Eric Mouloundgui, but were then reduced to nine men as midfield player Pontus Farnerud was dismissed for a tackle on Mathis.

Caçapa header
Brazilian defender Cláudio Caçapa put Olympique Lyonnais on the way to a 2-0 victory against Montpellier Hérault SC by heading in playmaker Juninho's eleventh-minute corner. The defending champions doubled their advantage when Eric Carrière's deflected effort evaded goalkeeper Rudy Riou in the 26th minute.

Darcheville double
A Brazilian was also on target at Roudourou where FC Girondins de Bordeaux recorded a 3-1 win against En Avant Guingamp. Deivid was the opening goalscorer, heading in Jean-Claude Darcheville's sixth-minute cross and although Nicolas Gousse equalised, Darcheville's double either side of half-time put the visitors out of reach.

Close-range effort
Two goals in seven minutes ensured AS Monaco FC beat SC Bastia on the south coast. Emmanuel Adebayor's close-range effort on 38 minutes was quickly followed by a Vassilis Zikos free-kick to wrap up all three points.

Honours even
Two games finished in 1-1 draws, Le Mans and OGC Nice sharing the spoils while Alexander Frei's 80th-minute goal salvaged a point for visiting Stade Rennais FC at FC Sochaux-Montbéliard. FC Nantes Atlantique won 3-1 at previously unbeaten AC Ajaccio, Sylvain Armand's 25-metre free-kick the pick of the goals.

Leroy seals it
Elsewhere, a solitary 55th-minute goal from Jérôme Leroy gave Paris Saint-Germain FC their first victory of the season - a 1-0 win against FC Metz at Saint-Symphorien - and Dimitri Manchev's double helped new leaders Lille OSC to a 3-0 success at Toulouse FC. Olympique de Marseille missed the chance to displace LOSC when they lost 2-1 at RC Lens on Sunday evening.

Thomert winner
Didier Drogba gave Marseille the lead with a header after eleven minutes but Senegalese midfield player Bouba Diop hit back ten
minutes later after beating two defenders. Lens snatched a deserved home win thanks to an injury-time goal by substitute Olivier Thomert but there was still time for them to have Seydou Keita sent off for a second bookable offence.