French Ligue One Roundup, Nov. 29
Defending champion Bordeaux beat Nancy 3-0 to go top of the French league on Sunday.
Bordeaux, which bounced back from two straight league losses, leads the standings with 28 points from 14 matches, two clear of Lyon, which drew 1-1 with mid-table Rennes.
Despite missing France playmaker Yoann Gourcuff due to a groin injury, Bordeaux took the lead in the 25th minute in Nancy, Yoan Gouffran pulling the ball back for Fernando Menegazzo to score with a low shot.
Brazilian midfielder Geraldo Wendel skipped past two Nancy defenders before chipping goalkeeper Gennaro Bracigliano for Bordeauxs second in the 61st minute and Gouffran sealed the win with an angled shot which flew in off the post in the 75th.
Nancy slipped to 16th place with 17 points.
In Lyon, Asamoah Gyan took advantage of a missed interception from Jean-Alain Boumsong to collect a through ball from Guinea forward Ismael Bangoura and put Rennes ahead with a low angled drive in the 15th minute. Gyans eighth goal of the season made him the leagues second highest scorer, one goal behind Monacos Nene.
Lyon stepped up the pressure on the Rennes defense with a long-range effort from Cris in the 25th minute and a free kick from Bosnia midfielder Miralem Pjanic in the 29th, both of which sailed wide.
Pjanic then beat the offside trap in the 34th to go clear on goal, only to be denied by Rennes keeper Abdoulaye Diallo.
Argentine forward Lisandro Lopez made up for his teammates poor finishing with a pinpoint curling free kick from 25 meters to equalize for Lyon in the 42nd minute and raise his league tally to five goals.
Either side could have won the match in the closing minutes. France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris saved Lyon from defeat in the 82nd when he stopped a close-range shot from Bruno Cheyrou with his leg.
Lyon nearly won the match in the 89th but Diallo tipped Bafetimbi Gomiss powerful strike against the bar.
Meanwhile, Saint-Etienne was held 1-1 at Le Mans.
Anthony Le Tallec equalized with a 73rd minute header for Le Mans after Brazilian striker Araujo Ilan tucked home a cross from Bakary Sako in the 18th to open the scoring for Saint-Etienne.
Le Mans ended a four-game losing streak with the draw but remained in the relegation zone with nine points, five behind Saint-Etienne.
Auxerre lost top spot with a 1-0 defeat at Paris Saint-Germain on Saturday. Jeremy Clements second-half goal ended Auxerres seven-match winning streak.
Auxerre, now third, is level on points with Lyon while PSG has moved up to 12th with 19 points from 13 matches. But PSG paid a high price for the win as goalkeeper Gregory Coupet was carried off on a stretcher in the 85th minute after breaking his left ankle.
Coupet underwent surgery Sunday and will be sidelined for at least three months, the club said on its Web site.
Also Saturday, it was: Lorient 2, Grenoble 2; Lens 1, Marseille 0; Lille 4, Valenciennes 0; Sochaux 1, Nice 0 and Toulouse 1, Boulogne 0.
Monacos match against Montpellier was postponed after an outbreak of swine flu hit the Montpellier squad.
