Rennes blow title race wide open, outclass Bordeaux

Printer Friendly

Share

Text Size

PARIS, Feb 6, 2010 (AFP) - Bordeaux' seemingly serene progress to defending their French league title came to an abrupt halt on Saturday as they tumbled to a 4-2 defeat away at Rennes.

Bordeaux - who were held 0-0 by relegation candidates Boulogne-sur-mer last Saturday - have just a three point lead over second-placed Montpellier, who beat Boulogne 2-0 earlier on Saturday.

A fine performance by Rennes was rounded off with a superb goal by Ghanaian international Asamoah Gyan 13 minutes from time.

Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc - who this week was strongly linked to replacing Raymond Domenech after the World Cup finals as France coach - said that a worse night could not have been imaginable.

"This evening the worse case scenario came true," admitted the 44-year-old.

"We lost, our main rivals won and what is more is we also lost Alou Diarra, who appears to have a serious injury, even if we haven't got the definitive diagnosis yet."

A double by Japanese striker Daisuke Matsui saw bottom side Grenoble record only their second victory in 22 league matches this season as they strolled to an astonishing 5-0 victory over highflying Auxerre.

Victory for Grenoble while welcome is unlikely to prevent them from being relegated as they have just 10 points and are 10 points adrift of safety.

Defeat for sixth-placed Auxerre was even more of a surprise as they were unbeaten in their previous five matches and had the second meanest defence in the league.

Grenoble had scored just 12 goals in the league this campaign but suddenly found goalscoring easy as they had Auxerre reeling with four first-half goals, one from Matsui, a brace by Nassim Akrour adding to a seventh-minute opener by Serbian international striker Danijel Ljuboja.

Matsui added his second eight minutes into the second-half.

Grenoble coach Mecha Bazdarevic said that he and the team would not be doing cartwheels despite the convincing victory.

"We have been so unhappy up till now that we are not going to go over the top because of this victory," he said.

"It is vital that we continue like this with the hunger to win every match. We continue to hope we will survive."

Elsewhere, the now traditional crisis at ailing giants Paris Saint Germain continued apace as they went down limply to a 3-0 defeat at home to League Cup semi-finalists Lorient for their fourth successive defeat - their worst sequence of results since March 2007.

All Lorient's goals came in the first-half, a penalty through Marama Vahirua, and the others from Kevin Gameiro and Morgan Amalfitano which led to calls for the first time this season from the notoriously emotional PSG fans to chant for coach Antoine Kombouare to be dismissed.

PSG slipped to 15th in the table 10 points off a place in Europe next season.

Kombouare issued a rallying call to his players, several of whom have been through this sort of crisis on a regular basis with the club in recent years.

"It is vital that we don't become scared of playing," said Kombouare, a former PSG player who made his name as a coach at Valenciennes.

"We have to stay united, pose questions but above all not throw in the towel.

"I understand that the spectators are upset and criticise everybody involved with the club. My work has been called into question. I will have to discuss matters with the players."

There were no problems for Montpellier as the surprise packages of the title race this season came away with three points thanks to a first-half effort by Souleymane Camara and then one in time added on at the end of the match by Victor Hugo Montano.

Third-placed Lille failed to also keep the pressure on Bordeaux as they were held 1-1 away at Nice and required a goal 15 minutes from time by substitute Tulio De Melo to even garner them a point.

They can be overhauled in the table by both Lyon and Monaco should both win on Sunday.