French Ligue 1 – Round Twenty

January 13, 2017

Lille                                            1-1                          Saint-Etienne

Nicolas De Preville 71’                                           Romain Hamouma 17’

The first match after the winter break ended in a  ‘1-1’ draw.

Lille had to come back from an early goal down in the last quarter of the regulation time to avoid a home defeat and get a consecutive ‘1-1’ draw in the league.

Both teams have gone four league matches without a victory; two defeats and two draws.

January 14, 2017

Rennes                                       0-1                    Paris Saint Germain

                                                                              Julian Draxler 39’

On his league debut,  Julian Draxler scored the only goal of the match to get Paris Saint-Germain to a winning restart of their season.  

Looking back at the amount of points dropped so far into the season, Paris Saint-Germain fans would appreciate this win and the fact that it came through a winter transfer addition.

Nancy                                           1-0                       Bastia

Issiar Dia 59’

A ‘1-0’ defeat keeps Bastia relegation threatened.

A second half goal allowed Nancy to open a four-point gap between themselves and Bastia.

Lorient                                           3-1                    Guingamp

Abdul Majeed Waris 72’ 90’                                Yannis Salibur 40’

Jimmy Cabot 82’

Lorient used the final twenty minutes of regulation time to come from a goal down to win by two goals against Guingamp.  From where they sit in the league standings, this was an upset.  

Jimmy Cabot scored the winner for Lorient ten minutes after Abdul Majeed Waris scored their equalizer.

Abdul Majeed Waris could have finished the game with a hat-trick if he had converted a penalty that could have been the winning goal for Lorient.  

Even with this victory, Lorient remains in the relegation zone with some work to do.

Montpellier                                  1-1                      Dijon

Jerome Roussillon 87’                                          Julio Tavares 27’

A late equalizer allow Montpellier to salvage a point at home against against Dijon.  

Toulouse                                      0-1                   Nantes

                                                                               Emiliano Sala 20’

Nantes got an away win to help save themselves from the drop zone and to deny Toulouse the opportunity to climb higher in the top end of the league standings.

Angers                                       1-1                          Bordeaux

Ismael Traore 14’                                                    Baptiste Santamaria 28’(o.g)

Angers couldn’t hold on to a lead and helped Bordeaux get an away point.  

January 15, 2017

Nice                                                               0-0                       FC Metz

The league leaders were held to a goalless draw at home by newly promoted and bottom tabled FC Metz

Caen                                                   3-2                             Lyon

Gnaly Maxwell Cornet 8’(o.g)                                            Alexandre Lacazette 35’(pen) 45’

Ivan Santini 29’(pen) 61’                      

A victory for Caen helped them climb out of the relegation zone while stopping Lyon from bettering their odds of finishing in the top three.

After a ‘2-2’ draw in the first half, Ivan Santini’s second-half goal was the difference maker.

Marseille                                           1-4                                Monaco

Rolando 28’                                                                            Thomas Lemar 16’

                                                                                                 Radamel Falcao 21’

                                                                                                 Bernardo Silva 45’ 56’

Monaco took advantage of OGC Nice slip-up against FC Metz and moved to the pole position in Ligue 1 after a ‘4-1’ away victory over a Marseille team that has been looking good in recent weeks.

Monaco has now scored 60 goals in twenty league matches.  An average of three goals a game.