The leaders defeated 3-1. Monaco smiles, Lyon falls
The 17th day of Ligue 1 gives a dream to Lenswho defeated 3-1 the PSG in the big match. The Sang et Or, dragged by the great performances of Seko Fofana and Openda, behave like this four points behind the leaders. Monaco smiles, defeating Brest 1-0, while Lyon sinks: OL loses with Clermont and is further and further away from the cups. Lorient also wins over Angers (2-1), important successes in terms of salvation for Nantes and Toulouse.
LENS-PSG 3-1
PSG’s 2023 begins, surprisingly, with a defeat: Lens, now an authentic certainty of Ligue 1, defeats the French champions 3-1 thanks to the dominant performances of Seko Fofana and Openda. Start with crazy rhythms and immediate emotions at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis, with the hosts taking the lead in the 6th minute: on Haidara’s touch, Donnarumma rejects uncertainly and Frankowski’s tap-in arrives. The scene repeats itself, with parts reversed, in the 8th minute: Samba doesn’t block Mukiele’s cross-shot and Etikike’s equalizer arrives. The Parisians push in pursuit of the advantage and their goal seems to be in the air, instead Lens’s 2-1 arrives, which strikes with an effective restart: Fofana recovers the ball and serves with a perfect Openda through ball, who scores behind Donnarumma . The Sang et Or are in full control and find the trio at the start of the second half. A goal that again comes from a mistake by PSG, with Fabian Ruiz losing the ball on the edge of the area: Openda collects and, with his heel, serves Claude-Maurice who makes no mistake face to face with Donnarumma. The leaders raise the pace again, wasting two good chances with Hakimi and Sarabia, who enhance Samba’s reflexes. Galtier doesn’t have many replacements on the bench and has to resort to his young players, inserting Zaine-Emery (2006) and Gharbi (2004). Two grafts that didn’t bring benefits to PSG, which was defeated 3-1: Lens dropped to -4 and are a candidate to be a very serious contender for the title.
MONACO-BREST 1-0
He wins, but doesn’t completely convince Monaco. The Principality team defeats Brest 1-0 thanks to Golovin, with a few too many thrills in the final. The talented Ben Seghir (2005) plays in the starting lineup after his dream brace in his Ligue 1 debut, but the great protagonist is Krepin Diatta: the Senegalese full-back engages in an authentic duel with Bizot, won by the goalkeeper with at least three decisive saves. In the second half, Brest wasted a good chance and were punished in the 54th minute: the decisive goal went to Golovin, who scored with a surgical right foot. The result unlocked and Monaco took a big risk in the final: Le Douaron had two concrete chances, with Nübel as protagonist, while Mounié hit the crossbar. However, the victory arrives, which is worth fourth place with 33 points, while Brest remains fourth from last with 13 points.
LIONE-CLERMONT 0-1
Lyon falls back into his mistakes and insecurity, being defeated 1-0 by Clermont and seeing the positions worth the European cups further move away. Laurent Blanc’s boys risked a mess at the start, but Lopes was good at avoiding Kumbedi’s clumsy own goal. However, the inertia of the match seems to favor OL, who have a first chance with Caqueret and dominate in the first half: Tetê is inspired, with a near goal and the assist for 2005 Kumbedi, but goalkeeper Diaw is attentive. In the second half, Anthony Lopes avoided Andric’s lead, but was unable to do anything in the 87th minute: Lukeba’s ingenuity gave Clermont a penalty, who converted it with Cham. It is the decisive goal, because Lyon does not react and even risks being doubled by Kyei. OL collapses, still eighth with 24 points and now closely followed by the visiting team: Clermont, who hadn’t won in six games, in fact rises to 22 after the Groupama Stadium feat.
ANGERS-LORIENT 1-2
The crisis of Angers continues, which is reassembled and defeated 2-1 by a Lorient increasingly rooted in the positions worth the European cups. The challenge starts in the best way for the bottom side of Ligue 1, still without the “world cup” Ounahi and Boufal: Sima headed in from a corner and it was 1-0 in the 10th minute. Hunou wastes the double, while Bernardoni is decisive on Moffi and repeats himself in the second half on Le Fée and Dango Ouattara. Everything happens in the final, which sees Lorient comeback and bring home the victory. The draw was self-produced by Angers, with Sima scoring an own goal from a corner (79′), exactly as he had scored. In the 87th minute the final insult came for the hosts, with the Euro goal from Le Fée and the 2-1 from Lorient. It ends 2-1 and comes the ninth consecutive defeat for Angers, very last with 8 points in 17 games. Lorient, on the other hand, takes fifth place, waiting for the response from Rennes and Lille who will play tomorrow.
NANTES-AUXERRE 1-0
Trouble-busting victory for Nantes, who defeat Auxerre 1-0 and move to +4 on the relegation zone. After an initial study phase, it was the hosts who made themselves dangerous in the first half: Ganago hit the crossbar, Blas committed Costil. In the second half Nantes still dominated, against a sterile opponent from an offensive point of view, and in the 74th minute the deserved advantage arrived: Ganago extended towards Coco, who sprinted on the edge of offside and hit between Costil’s legs. Nantes scores, which in the final must contain the siege of Auxerre: the best chance belongs to M’Changama, who is unable to reopen the challenge. So Nantes smiles, with an important success in the race for salvation. On the other hand, the guests remain third from bottom with 13 points.
TOULOUSE 2-0 AJACCIO
Toulouse returns to success, which has not smiled in Ligue 1 since 16 October and gets the better of a decidedly not dangerous Ajaccio: it ends 2-0 for the mallow-whites, who come out of the Ligue 1 hot spot. The hosts have dominated since the very first minutes, with the goal disallowed by Chaïbi and the chances wasted by Onaiwu and Dejaegere. For Ajaccio just one ring, with Belaïli, and many risks taken. Toulouse collects its credit with fate, and finds the well-deserved advantage when hostilities resume: Ratao signs it, who mocks Leroy in the 47th minute. The match is now settled, and in the 62nd minute the encore arrives: the Brazilian serves Dejaegere at the far post, who strikes on the fly for the 2-0. TFC dominance was clear, with Chaïbi having another goal disallowed and Leroy’s intervention to avoid the returning Aboukhlal’s set. Toulouse smiles and rises to 19 points, moving to +6 on the relegation zone. Instead, the tenth knockout in 17 days arrives for Ajaccio, stopped at 15 and fifth from last.
