Bafetimbi Gomis and Cris scored late goals as Lyon rallied from a
goal down to beat 10-man Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 on Sunday and move
into fourth place in the French league.
PSG dominated the first half and had enough chances to put
the match beyond Lyon's reach after Mevlut Erding's ninth league
goal of the season put the visitors ahead in the 11th minute.
But after PSG defender Mamadou Sakho was sent off for a
clumsy challenge on Gomis, PSG defended for over 30 minutes with 10
men and could not hold out as Gomis equalized in the 77th and Cris
headed the winning goal four minutes later.
PSG was aggrieved about the straight red card shown by
referee Philippe Kalt, but Lyon also hit the post three times with
goalkeeper Apoula Edel beaten every time. Gomis nearly had a second
goal but the crossbar denied him in the 88th minute.
Bordeaux leads the standings with 48 points from 22 games,
Montpellier is second with 42 points, Lille has 40 and Lyon has 39
to lead both Monaco and Auxerre on goal difference.
PSG took the lead when Stephane Sessegnon took a corner from
the right and Erding expertly nipped ahead of his marker to clip
the ball inside the near post.
Lyon goalkeeper Remy Vercoutre then tipped Erding's shot just
past the post moments later, and PSG striker Guillaume Hoarau saw
his shot sail just wide after Erding nodded a long ball down to his
feet.
With PSG completely dominating, Sessegnon burst forward and
found space just inside the penalty area, but the Benin midfielder
tried to smash the ball past Vercoutre instead of placing it.
Lyon almost got back into the match just before halftime with
a lucky deflection when Jeremy Toulalan's shot hit the leg of PSG
defender Sammy Traore and then the post.
Erding was proving hard to handle for Lyon's defense and only
a superb double save from Vercoutre prevented the Turkey striker
making it 2-0 in the 49th. Vercoutre stopped Erding's header and
then dived at his feet to block the rebound.
The match changed in the 59th minute, though, when Gomis
sprinted clear and Sakho made a desperate lunge, missed the ball
and caught Gomis' heel. Kalt initially appeared to indicate there
was no foul, but changed his mind, thus prompting an angry reaction
from PSG's players as they surrounded him and the linesman.
Sakho's red card left prompted PSG coach Antoine Kombouare to
replace winger Ludovic Giuly with defender Christophe Jallet.
Edel saved midfielder Cesar Delgado's shot, and was saved by
his post again when Gomis' shot flashed past him.
But Edel was powerless to stop Gomis scoring from close range
after Dejan Lovren headed a corner toward goal and the ball bounced
off Edel's chest and straight to Gomis lurking one yard (meter)
out.
Edel could little again to stop Cris scoring with a looping
header moments later after Lisandro Lopez had flicked the ball on.
Having taken off both Giuly and Erding after Sakho's red
card, Kombouare had little attacking options left.
Earlier, defender Jean-Pascal Mignot scored late in the
second half as Auxerre beat Saint-Etienne 1-0.
Slovenia winger Valter Birsa floated a corner to the near
post and Mignot placed his header firmly past Jeremie Janot after
77 minutes. Saint-Etienne striker Gonzalo Bergessio had a goal
disallowed for offside moments later.
Valenciennes was held to a 1-1 draw at home against Sochaux.
Valenciennes striker Johan Audel opened the scoring in the
20th minute with his fifth league goal of the season, but defender
Damien Perquis equalized for Sochaux in the 53rd.
On Saturday, defending champion Bordeaux drew 0-0 at home to
struggling Boulogne.
In Saturday's other games, it was: Le Mans 1, Toulouse 3;
Lille 1, Lens 0; Monaco 3, Nice 2; Nancy 1, Lorient 0; Rennes 4,
Grenoble 0, and Montpellier 2, Marseille 0.
