Lisandro brace sees Lyon stop the rot at Auxerre
Lisandro Lopez scored his first goals since August as Lyon salved their Champions League heartache with a 3-0 win at Auxerre on Sunday that saw them reclaim fifth place in Ligue 1.
Lisandro Lopez scored his first goals since August as Lyon salved their Champions League heartache with a 3-0 win at Auxerre on Sunday that saw them reclaim fifth place in Ligue 1.
Tuesday's 0-0 draw with Ajax practically extinguished Lyon's Champions League hopes, but they went ahead in the 20th minute at Stade l'Abbe-Deschamps when Lisandro dived to head in Michel Bastos' cross.
Having been out for almost three months with an ankle injury, the Argentine claimed his second goal in the 69th minute, clipping the ball home after a cunning feint had brought Auxerre goalkeeper Olivier Sorin to the ground.
Dennis Oliech struck the Lyon crossbar with 17 minutes left before Bastos made the game safe in the dying stages, as Lyon recorded a first victory since the end of October after consecutive league defeats by Sochaux and Rennes.
In the day's other afternoon kick-off, Lorient climbed above Saint-Etienne into seventh place by beating second-bottom Nice 1-0 thanks to a 63rd-minute penalty by Arnold Mvuemba.
Paris Saint-Germain visit Marseille in the first French 'clasico' of the season on Sunday night, when Antoine Kombouare's visitors will be bidding to reclaim top spot from Montpellier.
Montpellier moved three points clear of PSG at the summit on Saturday as newly capped France striker Olivier Giroud claimed a hat-trick in a 3-1 win at Sochaux.
Reigning champions Lille held on to third place by beating Brest 2-0 through goals in either half from Dimitri Payet and Moussa Sow.