Lille lose ground on Lyon

By Chris Burke

The teams chasing Olympique Lyonnais in Ligue 1 failed to capitalise on the French champions’ draw against FC Istres yesterday as second-placed LOSC Lille Métropole lost 1-0 away against Toulouse FC, while the game between AS Monaco FC and AJ Auxerre finished goalless.

Lille loss
Lille had been handed the chance to return to the league summit by Lyon’s failure to overcome bottom club Istres on Saturday, but remain one point behind the leaders after their run of six consecutive domestic victories came crashing to an end. Following their shock defeat by TSV Alemannia Aachen in the UEFA Cup on Thursday, Claude Puel’s side struggled against Toulouse. Serbian defender Milivoje Vitakic was sent off on 84 minutes, and the home side immediately capitalised, stealing all three points in the last minute through Brazilian striker Eduardo.

Monaco held
Didier Deschamps’ Monaco continued to drop down their table as they made it four games without a win since losing the top spot. Despite fielding an attacking lineup that included Javier Saviola, Ernesto Chevantón and Emmanuel Adebayor, visitors Auxerre held the principality side off and stay third, one point ahead of fourth-placed Monaco and just three points behind Lyon.

Marseille blank
Olympique de Marseille also failed to find a breakthrough as they were forced to settle for a 0-0 draw with RC Lens. In a game of few chances, Lens goalkeeper Charles Itandje made up for his mistakes against Auxerre last week to shut out José Anigo’s team, who occupy fifth place. Lens have not won in eight games and drop down to 16th.

Bastia relief
The match between SC Bastia and FC Sochaux-Montbéliard also ended in a draw at the Armand-Cesari-Furiani. Tunisian striker Francileudo Santos gave the visitors an early lead on nine minutes with his third strike this season, but Djibril Sidibé equlaised five minutes before the interval to earn Bastia a draw and end a run of four consecutive defeats for François Ciccolini’s side.