Week of March 5-12

SCORES

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UEFA Champions League

March 6

Lyon 0-2 Roma

March 7

Manchester United 1-0 Lille

Ligue 1

March 10

Toulouse 1-1 Monaco
Bordeaux 2-0 Sochaux
Le Mans 2-1 St. Etienne
Lorient 0-0 Lille
Nantes 2-1 Nancy
Nice 1-1 Rennes
Troyes 1-3 Valenciennes

March 11

Lens 1-1 Sedan
PSG 0-1 Auxerre
Lyon 1-1 Marseille

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Lyon were back at the Stade Gerland with everything to play for against AS Roma. The 0-0 draw in Rome was a perfect place to be for them and they had it all to do at home. Lyon came out in good form, with Juninho putting the fear of God into Roma with a few well taken free-kicks. But it was Roma's talisman, Francesco Totti, who drew first blood in the 22nd minute. While Lyon were trying to regroup, however, Alessandro Mancini got Roma's second to make it 2-0. Despite a few tactical substitutions, Gerard Houllier's side were unable to get anything happening, even though they had the bulk of the shots in the match. Roma defended well, and in the end they knocked out the French champions by an aggregate of 2-0.

Lille, for all they whined and complained after their home loss to Manchester United, had to come up with 2 goals at Old Trafford to advance to the next round. UEFA had rejected their appeals over and over again, and United were not rising to their bait. As tough as this match was, Lille had the advantage in many aspects of this game, most conspicuously shots on goal. However, the only goal of the game came from Henrik Larsson in his last match for Manchester United. A fitting exit for a brilliant striker, and United poach another one on the trot. Lille go back to focusing on their league form, where they sit in 3rd.

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Toulouse were the early match on Saturday when they had Monaco visit them. Both teams had been part and parcel of dull nil-nil draws against Bordeaux and Valenciennes, respectively. Toulouse sat in 4th coming into this one, in the UEFA cup place, and Monaco, despite a loss, a win, and a draw in their last 3 matches, were still a quality side. A side that needed a win, now sitting in 14th. Toulouse had Monaco on their back heel for the entire first half, and looked the more dangerous side throughout. A dangerous free kick enabled Jérémy Mathieu to start off the scoring as Toulouse went one up. A critical second half substitution for Monaco proved fortuitous as Jan Koller scored his 6th of the year to level things off. In the end, the teams shared the points, to the benefit of Monaco first and foremost.

Off-and-on Bordeaux hosted Sochaux with both teams sitting on 40 points, and within striking distance of Europe. Bordeaux were part of the weekend of draws when they drew Toulouse 0-0, and Sochaux had a disappointing loss at home to Nantes, a team that should have been a pushover. This day belonged to Bordeaux, and they delighted the home fans when Johan Micoud scored at the stroke of halftime to give them the lead. Sochaux had nothing on the day, and after being on the back foot for most of the match, they had to watch as Bordeaux' Fernando Cavenaghi got his first of the season in the 90th minute to put the nail in the coffin. The result allowed Bordeaux to leapfrog Sochaux, tied now for a European place again.

St. Etienne were happy to go on the road to Le Mans and forget the crowd trouble that marred last week's match against Lyon at their home ground. Lyon had walked over them by a scoreline of 3-1, and the fans had gotten rather restless, with injury and nonsense ensuing. Le Mans' trip to Nancy had been unsuccessful as well, but they had come away with at least a point, and were now sitting in 11th. Le Mans midfielder Mathieu Coutadeur made his first contribution to the scoresheet this season to put the home side ahead in the 43rd minute. On a high after the half, Le Mans' Ismail Bangoura got his 13th goal of the season to make it 2-0. St. Etienne had nothing to respond with until Bafetimbi Gomis scored in the 82nd minute, but it was too late for the visitors. Final score, 2-1.

Lorient had been holding steady for most of the campaign, but had been a bit of a slump of late that saw them now sitting in 13th, only 5 points above the relegation zone. Their home match against Lille would be less than a foxtrot, as Lille would be hungry for Europe again after being dumped out over the week by Manchester United. Lille had met up with Troyes and destroyed them in the league last weekend 4-0, and were still in a healthy 4th position. This match had nothing in it, however, and the home fans got to be bored to tears by a Lorient side that has had some trouble scoring of late. Lille would be unhappy with this as well, as it made catching up to Lens just that much tougher.

In Brittany, Nantes played host to Nancy in a match that they had to win as they were sitting in 19th and needed every point they could get. Nancy's form of late had been poor, and they now sat in 10th after their draw with Le Mans last weekend. This was a far cry from the 2nd place they had briefly enjoyed early in the season. Nantes got things started when Mamadou Diallo got a rare goal in the 35th minute. 4 minutes later, however, Nancy came right back at them when Midfielder Jonathan Brison got an even rarer goal, his first of the campaign. After halftime things were rather tense but La Beaujoire-Louis-Fonteneau erupted when Emerse Fae made his contribution to put the home side back ahead. That was how things ended, and now Nantes make things interesting by moving up into 18th, pending the PSG result.

Rennes travelled to the Municipal du Ray in Nice to play a team that was certainly on a roll. Unbeaten in their last 5, Nice had shown some serious quality to get themselves out of the relegation mire and up into 15th. Rennes were slumping a little after a fantastic run, and had lost two in a row, including last week's match against Auxerre. Rennes scored first, against the run of play, when Jimmy Briand got a goal just 15 minutes in, but an unafraid Nice were not deterred from getting one back courtesy of Marama Vahirua just after halftime. Nice showed positive form the entire match and fully deserved the point. 1-1 was the final, and the teams now sit in 10th and 16th.

The last match of Saturday was hardly destined to be a cracker, but Valenciennes' trip to Troyes was one they needed three points from lest they fall back into the relegation mire. Their draw with Toulouse last weekend was not enough to give them any sort of safety. Troyes was another team that had done well to get out of the danger zone, but sat only a place above Valenciennes in the table and one slip up could be costly for them as well. A tense first half culminated with Valenciennes' absurdly named Midfielder Yacine Bezzaz pulling one for the visitors. That was all that they needed to go on a roll, and second half goals from Sébastien Roudet and Laurent Dufresne were enough to secure the victory, despite Troyes' David Gigliotti getting one back in the 90th minute. Valenciennes got just what they needed and now move up to a much safer 15h on the day.

Sedan had shocked PSG back into brutal reality last weekend, shining with a 2-0 win at home, momentarily sitting in 19th place. THe side would be eager to get a result here again, but Lens were a completely different story from PSG. Lens beat Marseille last weekend and were now 6 domestic matches without a loss. Gregory Pujol, Sedan's in-form striker, put the fear into Lens' hearts when he struck gold just 2 minutes into the match. Despite the initial setback, Lens were clearly the better team, dominating the play and struck back at the half-hour mark courtesy of Seydou Keita. The teams stayed level thanks to some astute defending by Sedan, and 1-1 was how it ended. Sedan resign themselves to 20th for another week, and Lens still sit comfortably in 2nd.

PSG had it all to do at the Parc des Princes Sunday evening against Auxerre. Their shameful loss to Sedan last weekend had pulled them down into the mire of Relegation territory, sitting in 18th. Auxerre surprised Rennes last weekend as well, beating them 1-0, and now sitting in 12th. Despite having the edge in the match as a whole, PSG just could not finish, and Auxerre finally broke through just before halftime when defender Younes Kaboul took advantage of a critical defensive erroe by PSG to put them in the lead. That was all that either team had going on on the day, and the result pushes PSG further into the mire, into 19th courtesy of Nantes' fortuitous win on Saturday. Auxerre sit in 14th, still safe for now.

The marquee match of the weekend was surely Lyon vs. Marseille. The league leaders had assaulted Marseille 4-1 earlier in the season, and the visitors would be looking for revenge. Lyon crashed out of Europe earlier in the week, but had won their tumultuous derby with St. Etienne last weekend. Marseille had had a bit of a slip up against Lens, losing 1-0 and now sat in 8th. Lyon started things off by dominating the play, and Milan Baros scored in the 20th minute to get things going for the hosts. Unfortunately they were thwarted 2 minutes from time when Mamadou Niang beat Gregory Coupet to get Marseille the point. The result probably won't hurt Lyon's title chances, but it does complete a dire week for them as they slump once again.