Week of November 20-27

SCORES

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UEFA Champions League

November 21

Real Madrid 2-2 Lyon
Lille 2-2 Anderlecht

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UEFA Cup

November 23

Odense BK 1-1 Lens
Basle 2-2 Nancy
PSG 2-4 Hapoel Tel Aviv
Auxerre 2-2 Rangers

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Ligue 1

November 25

Troyes 1-1 Marseille
Bordeaux 1-0 St. Etienne
Lille 1-1 Monaco
Lorient 1-3 Sochaux
Nice 2-2 Sedan
Toulouse 1-0 Rennes

November 26

Le Mans 1-1 Lens
Nantes 1-1 PSG
Valenciennes 1-0 Nancy
Lyon 1-0 Auxerre

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In Champions League action there were few bigger matches to be played than the one at Madrid’s Bernabeu. Real vs. Lyon has become a grudge match, and one that the Spanish giants were desperate to win. In last year’s campaign Real lost 3-0 and drew 1-1 with Lyon, and in their first meeting this year Lyon dominated them 2-0 at the Stade Gerland. Lyon has not yet lost or conceded a goal for that matter in the Champions league this year. Things started out well for the Lyonnais, as John Carew showed his might by scoring eleven minutes in, followed quickly by Florent Malouda. Just as it looked like another rout for the French side, Diarra came out and scored for Madrid against his old club less than ten minutes later. Lyon dominated the rest of the match, but Ruud Van Nistelrooy came through just before the end of the match to tie things up. Van Nistelrooy had the chance to be the hero with a penalty kick in injury time, but Gregory Coupet made himself the hero and saved the day. The 2-2 tie gives Lyon the top place in the group and moves them on to the next round.

Lille hosted Anderlecht in what was nearly a must-win for the home side, as they found themselves 5 points back of AC Milan in their group, and could conceivably be bumped out of second place in the group with an AEK Athens win. Lille were only able to manage a 1-1 draw with Anderlecht in their first meeting on September 13. Lille’s evening started brightly with an early goal by Peter Odemwingie, but ten minutes later Anderlecht tied things up with a goal by Mbo Mpenza. Both sides traded goals once more before the end of the match, which is a very disappointing result for Lille, as AEK Athens beat AC Milan, placing them second in the group for now. Now Lille have to rely on AEK losing to Anderlecht on the next matchday, and they must win against AC Milan, which may not be as hard as it sounds.

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Lens took a little trip to Denmark to meet up against Odense BK in their UEFA cup tie. The Danish side have only lost once in the cup competition, but will see some mighty tough opposition in the form of Lens, whose domestic form has been outstanding, and who haven’t lost in the cup at all. Odense scored first in the 58th minute with a goal from Grahn, but as the match came to a close Lens made the most of one of the few shots on goal they had to tien things up before the end. 1-1 was the final score, and puts Lens in second place in the group for now.

Nancy goes across the border to Switzerland to play FC Basel at St. Jakob Park. Nancy currently sit in second in their cup group, but that could swiftly change with a loss to the Swiss club. Basel, on the other hand, need a win and some goals, as they face the danger of not clearing the group stage without a win here. Both sides played for the win, but it was Nancy who scored first half an hour in, followed by Basel’s Scott Chipperfield chipping one in. The teams traded goals once more before the match ended, and as it looked as if Nany would take the lead from a penalty kick, Michael Chretien missed his chance. Nancy look favored to keep the second place in Group E with the tie, while Basel looked headed out of the competition.

PSG hosted Israeli side Hapoel Tel Aviv at the Parc Des Princes on Thursday. PSG had only been able to manage a draw in this competition to date, and a win here would give them more of an argument to stay into the next round. Tel Aviv had lost one and drawn one, and a win in France was looking a bit of a stretch. Fortunately for the Israeli side the PSG defense leaked like a sieve on the day, and the two quick goals by Salim Toama in the first ten minutes put the Paris side in a state of shock. After recovering their composure, Frau and Pauleta were able to tie things up before the end of the first half. The home side were doomed however, when they went into the dressing room one goal down when Walid Badir scored in the 44th minute. Just for good measure the Israelis popped one more in to seal the deal with four goals. PSG drop to the bottom of their group and become a long shot to get out of the group stage of the cup competition.

Auxerre hosted Rangers from Scotland in a game they had to get points from if they wanted to assert their right to move past the group stage. Rangers had managed to win their last two UEFA Cup matches and were looking better in Europe than in their domestic campaign. Auxerre had yet to win a match, but they had two more matches in hand to change their situation. Things started brightly for the home side as they scored right before half-time. The second half was preoccupied with trading goals as Rangers scored next with a goal from Novo. Niculae and Boyd scored for their sides, respectively. The draw gives Rangers a pass to the next round, while Auxerre has an uphill struggle from here on in, as they must win their next two European games.

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Marseille halted their losing streak last week with a win against Valenciennes in a 1-0 win at home, and were confident they could get a result against Troyes, who have been bumbling around the foot of the table most of the season. Troyes, on the other hand needed a win more than anything and what better place to get it than at home against a side that has a lot of problems of its own? Things started brightly for Troyes, whose Yann Lachouer scored 18 minutes in. The home side were able to hold Marseille until Maoulida was able to breach the defense midway through the second half. The 1-1 final was not what the visitors would have been hoping for, as wins are the only solution to Marseille’s freefall, but the home side were more than happy to get a point out of the day.

Bordeaux hosted St. Etienne Saturday, high off two huge wins, one against PSG in the league, and the next midweek against Galatasaray. St. Etienne were in good form as well, not having lost since October 28. The home side had the bulk of the opportunities to score, and Alonso took full advantage in the 70th minute after holding St. Etienne off for two thirds of the match. St. Etienne were not able to counter with any quality chances, and they slip to eighth in the table. The win takes Bordeaux up into 6th place, with their form continuing to improve.

Monaco had something to prove going into Lille, and that was that they could beat a top side in the French League. Lille needed a win to improve on the draws they were able to manage over the last week. Monaco’s 4-0 drubbing of Troyes the other week, followed by a draw with giant-killers Lorient had them on a serious high going into this match. Monaco started the match off brightly, as did Lille, with both sides getting multitudes of chances, until the 37th minute, when Monaco broke the deadlock. The Monte Carlo side held on well but were unable to get the three points after substitute Mathieu Bodmer scored in the 77th minute for Lille. A draw was a very good result for Monaco though, and they continue to recover from their disastrous season start slowly but surely.

Mid-table, Lorient hosted Sochaux, who haven’t scored a goal in the last two weeks of Ligue 1 competition. Lorient have looked brilliant over the past month, beating Marseille and Lille in the process. Sylvain Marchal started things of brightly for the Brittany side, scoring 2 minutes in. The early setback didn’t faze Sochaux though, as Liverpool loan-boy Anthony Le Tallec popped in 2 goals within three minutes to put the visitors in the lead. A well taken penalty kick by Karim Ziani as the period closed sent the teams to the dressing room with the score 3 goals to 1. That was the final scoreline as well, as Sochaux moves into 4th in the table.

Nice played host to Sedan with both teams needing results if they wanted to stop flirting with relegation. Sedan came into the match at the bottom of the table with only one domestic win all season, while Nice weren’t faring much better in 17th place. Sedan’s Joseph Desire-Job scored first, but Nice were able to get two back at the beginning of the second half. And just as it looked as if the home side would run away with the points, Gregory Pujol was able to tie things up to make the final score 2-2.

Rennes came into Toulouse hoping for something better than the two draw that they manages the past two weeks, and back to the glorious game they played against Lyon. Toulouse lost to Auxerre 1-0 last week, and were wanting to get back into winning form and the top 4. The teams traded chances all match, with Rennes getting the bulk of the opportunites to score, but in the 66th minute the dangerous Bryan Bergougnoux was awarded a penalty kick and converted with little difficulty. Bergougnoux had the chance to make it 2-0 after Rennes gave away another penalty as the game came to a close, but failed. No matter for the home side, as they walked away with three points on a 1-0 scoreline.

Early Sunday Le Mans had Lens at home in what promised to be a tough match with Lens barking at the door of the coveted second place spot. Le Mans, in 11th, would settle for nothing but a win as they knew that with a few good results they could be up into the European places, however two weeks of drawn matches against PSG and Rennes, respectively, meant they needed points. Le Mans’ prolific goal scorer Ismael Bangoura scored early on to get the home side out in front. Lens countered quickly with a multitude of chances until they were able to capitalize just before halftime when Olivier Thomert roofed it into the net after getting the ball on the edge of the box. The rest of the match played out in midfield with neither team’s defence stretched by much, and it ended a 1-1 draw. Lens are unable to get into second with the draw, but they end up in third on goal difference.

PSG travelled to Nantes in dire straights needing to stop their free fall in the table. 14th is where they were after the loss to Bordeaux, and could conceivably fall two more places with a loss. Nantes also needed to keep on form as they continued to flirt with relegation sitting in 18th, but PSG was just the team to get points off of, as they hadn’t won yet in November. Things started well for PSG at La Beaujoire-Louis-Fonteneau, with Kalou scoring after 2 minutes of play. Pauleta had a chance to make it 2-0 minutes later on a one-on-one with Nantes keeper Vladimir Stojkovic, but failed to make good. Stojkovic proved the hero of the match, keeping the scoreline 1-0 until the 75th minute when Nantes’ Da Rocha was able to nudge the ball over the line. A point suits PSG well, and Nantes keeps their 18th place, needing a good result against Rennes next week to get out of relegation territory.

Valenciennes hosted Nancy Sunday afternoon having lost their last four matches, and looking to improve their form. Nancy were able to manage a draw midweek in Switzerland, but looked the more tired side coming into this match. The Stade Nungesser erupted early when Steve Savidan scored a mere 60 seconds in, which was enough to seal the deal for the northern side. Chances were in short order over the rest of the match, whcih was frustrating a scrappy for both sides, and resulted in three card being handed out, as well as 36 fouls being committed. The loss is a bit of a blow to nancy, who find themselves in 5th place, but are looking to do better next week in their big match against Lille.

It was another David and Goliath situation when Lyon met up with Auxerre in Sunday’s marquee match. Lyon had a fantastic match against Real Madrid midweek, even though it turned out to be a draw for them, while Auxerre’s UEFA cup draw held much more meaning for them and took away two points they needed. Auxerre’s win over Toulouse last week, however gave them a bit of a domestic boost, and they were looking to be, as Rennes were three weeks ago, giant killers. Unfortunately it was not to be for the Bourgogne side as Florent Malouda made no mistake, heading in a Juninho free kick at the 25 minute mark. Auxerre had plenty of chances but Gregory Coupet came up big, as did the Lyon goal-posts. Lyon now moves 14 points clear of second-place Lille, and continue to run away with the title.