Bordeaux boosted by fruitful Henrique

Two first-half goals from Henrique were the catalyst for FC Girondins de Bordeaux's 3-0 home win against RC Strasbourg that kept them in touch at the top of Ligue 1.

Contrasting fortunes
The convincing 3-0 success that Olympique Lyonnais managed at AS Monaco FC on Saturday had sent the leaders nine points clear and Bordeaux could not afford to drop points against a Strasbourg side nervously looking over their shoulders towards the wrong end of the table if they were to continue harbouring hopes of the title.

Henrique headers
They were given a helping hand by Henrique's ability to evade his markers at Alejandro Alonso corners as the pair combined in near identical circumstances twice in 14 first-half minutes with the midfielder finding the net with headers on both occasions. Argentinian striker Fernando Cavenaghi wrapped up the win by capitalising on the visitors' defensive frailty with 15 minutes remaining to fire in his tenth league goal in as many games.

Entertaining draw
Olympique de Marseille could have closed to within a point of third-place AS Nancy-Lorraine with a victory at lowly RC Lens but Jean-Pierre Papin's outfit proved determined opposition in a topsy-turvy 3-3 draw. Marseille appeared in total control when strikes from Samir Nasri (25) and Benoît Cheyrou (29) gave them a two-goal cushion at the interval.

Saviour Cissé
But Toifilou Maoulida (57) started the revival, Kader Mangane (65) drew the sides level, and Loïc Rémy (76) appeared to have completed a turnaround that would have moved Lens four points clear of the bottom three. Yet there was still time for Djibril Cissé to earn the visitors a point with a last-gasp equaliser.