Lyon becomes autumn champion. Led 2-0 in Rennes, the leader of Ligue 1 snatched an unexpected draw (2-2), Saturday, January 9, to take the lead at mid-championship, just in front of Paris-Saint-Germain of Mauricio Pochettino, scorer of Brest (3-0), and Lille, winner in Nîmes (1-0).
Sixteenth unbeaten game for the Lyonnais
At the end of the first leg, the boss is Lyon: OL survived a badly started evening at Roazhon Park, winning the honorary title of autumn champion for the first time since the 2008-2009 season. . The Lyonnais, undefeated since mid-September, have thus chained a 16e undefeated match. This series took them from the 14e place at the end of the summer transfer window to that of a solid leader.
While the Rennais led thanks to Clément Grenier (20e) and Benjamin Bourigeaud (55)e), OL saved their unbeaten streak established since mid-September thanks to Memphis Depay, scorer of a splendid sequence (79e) then passer for Jason Denayer (82e).
This rewards the mental strength of the Lyonnais, who can continue to believe in their destiny in this L1, even if being the autumn champion does not guarantee anything: in 2008-2009, OL finished third in the spring.
Successful return for Pochettino to Parc des Princes
Mauricio Pochettino has returned to the Parc des Princes, with a victory: more than seventeen years after having stepped on the Parisian lawn for the last time in the jersey of PSG, the Argentinian has succeeded in his comeback, winning against Brest his first victory on the bench of his new club.
Still deprived of many executives including the superstar Neymar (recovery), “Poch” has renewed the same eleven as in Saint-Etienne (1-1), with the exception of Thilo Kehrer, positive for the coronavirus. And he was rewarded: from the 16e minute, Moise Kean threw himself in to open the scoring with a diving header.
Then, the returning Mauro Icardi, back from injury, sharpened the competition at the center-forward position with a flat foot on an offering from Kylian Mbappé (81e), before being himself a decisive passer for Pablo Sarabia (83e).
This large score is flattering for Paris, a little jostled by the Brestois, but allows Pochettino to launch his mandate, four days to seek the first trophy of his young coaching career: PSG will challenge Marseille next Wednesday in the Champions Trophy .
Meanwhile, Paris (2e, 39 pts) remains in ambush in Ligue 1, one point behind Lyon and tied with Lille (3e), who tamed the red lantern Nîmes 1-0 thanks to Burak Yilmaz.
Marseille patina, Monaco grapples
Behind this trio, OM (6e, 32 pts) begins to be won despite its two late games to play: the Marseillais could not do better than a 0-0 draw in Dijon, while Dimitri Payet was still a substitute at kick-off.
A l’inverse, Monaco (4e, 33 pts) overtook Rennes (5e, 32 pts) and OM thanks to a large 3-0 victory against Angers on goals from Guillermo Maripan (40e), Kevin Volland (72e) And Stevan Jovetic (81e).
Montpellier (8e, 28 pts), him, does not advance any more. The MHSC was slowed down by Nantes (1-1), which confirms its solidity regained under the orders of its new coach Raymond Domenech: two draws in two games.
In Bordeaux, the Girondins (10e, 26 pts) were still deprived of their master to play Hatem Ben Arfa but Rémi Oudin played the saviors against Lorient (2-1) with a brace (13e, 42e), despite the equalizer of Terem Moffi (23e).
At the bottom of the table, the series of invincibility of Saint-Etienne (seven consecutive games, including six draws) ended in Reims, with in particular a double from Boulaye Dia (12e on penalty, 37e). Enough to allow the Reims center-forward, highly coveted in this transfer window, to equalize with Mbappé in the scorers classification with 12 goals.
Enough also to allow Reims, undefeated for five games, to go back to 14e place (21 pts), ahead of Strasbourg (15e, 20 pts), winner in Lens 1-0 on a goal by Habib Diallo in the thick artesian fog.
Finally, Metz and Nice neutralized 1-1, an improbable gag goal from John Boye (80e) having replied to Amine Gouiri on penalty (18e).
