Ten-man Lille falter in Monaco
Saturday, April 9, 2011
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A loss for LOSC Lille Métropole at AS Monaco FC has given Olympique de Marseille the chance to close on the summit, while Stade Rennais FC also stumbled at Stade Brestois 29.
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The French title race has been thrown wide open again after LOSC Lille Métropole suffered a surprise loss to AS Monaco FC.
Few expected the leaders – who had won their last four Ligue 1 matches – to struggle against a side mired in the bottom three, but matters went from bad to worse for the visitors when Park Chu-Young (12) put Monaco in front and Gervinho was then dismissed (38). The victory took Laurent Banide's side up to 15th, while Olympique de Marseille will reduce the gap at the top to one point if they defeat Toulouse FC on Sunday.
Third-placed Stade Rennais FC missed out on the chance to move level on 54 points with Marseille as they lost the Breton derby 2-0 at Stade Brestois 29, for whom Nolan Roux (29) and Bruno Grougi (55) were on target. Paris Saint-Germain FC are two points further back in fifth courtesy of a 2-1 success at SM Caen, who are hovering a point above third-bottom AJ Auxerre following the Burgundy outfit's 2-2 draw with AS Saint-Étienne.
Elsewhere, FC Girondins de Bordeaux drew 0-0 at home with AC Arles-Avignon, while FC Lorient and Valenciennes FC shared 1-1 outcomes with FC Sochaux-Montbéliard and AS Nancy-Lorraine respectively.