Cissé inspires Auxerre triumph

France striker Djibril Cissé scored twice and set up another goal as AJ Auxerre thrashed FC Girondins de Bordeaux 5-0 in Ligue 1 on Saturday.

Gap cut
The Burgundy side are now third in the table with 41 points from 22 games, seven adrift of leaders AS Monaco FC who drew 1-1 with Paris Saint-Germain FC on Friday. Second-placed Olympique Lyonnais cut the gap on the principality team to four points with a 1-0 victory at Toulouse FC, courtesy of a clever second-half strike from midfield player Vikash Dhorasoo.

Powerful header
Cissé, the league's top scorer, slotted the ball home for his first in the eighth minute after goalkeeper Ulrich Ramé failed to block a 20-metre shot from Teemu Tainio. Four minutes later Kanga Akale doubled the lead with a powerful header from a Yann Lachuer corner and Tainio then made it three. Cissé converted a penalty two minutes before the break for his 17th goal of the season before setting up Akale for the final goal.

Flamini off
Cissé leads the scorers' standings from Olympique de Marseille's Didier Drogba and FC Sochaux Montbéliard's Pierre-Andre Frau on 13. Both scored as Sochaux beat Marseille 2-1. Drogba opened the scoring for Marseille in the third minute but everything went wrong for the visitors when they had defender Mathieu Flamini sent off on the hour. Jérémy Mathieu levelled in the 30th minute and Frau scored the winner with a penalty after Drogba handled in the 70th minute.

Sochaux fourth
In the day's other games, Stade Rennais FC defeated EA Guingamp 2-0 away from home while Lille OSC were also successful on their travels, beating FC Metz 1-0 by virtue of Milenko Acimovic's solitary goal. FC Nantes Atlantique mirrored LOSC's win, triumphing at Le Mans UC 72 thanks to a Viorel Moldovan goal, despite having Mathieu Berson sent off.

Lens focused
Elsewhere, RC Lens remain in tenth position despite their 2-1 victory against RC Strasbourg and both AC Ajaccio's game against OGC Nice and Montpellier Hérault SC's fixture with SC Bastia ended in 1-1 draws.