Olympique Lyonnais celebrated the inauguration of their new 59,000-capacity stadium with a 4-1 victory over bottom side ESTAC Troyes on Saturday, snapping a six-game winless run in Ligue 1.
Alexandre Lacazette wrote his name into the history books by scoring the first goal at Parc OL to give Lyon an 18th-minute lead, but Fabien Camus silenced the home fans with a stunning equalizer midway through the second half.
However, Lyon went back in front courtesy of a fine Rachid Ghezzal strike on 72 minutes before Jordan Ferri and Claudio Beauvue added late goals to clinch a first league win for Lyon in two months.
Photo: Reuters
Lyon climbed up to sixth, while Troyes did little to dispel the likelihood of an immediate return to the second tier, having yet to win 20 matches into the season.
The hosts went ahead as Lacazette held off a defender before steering past Paul Bernardoni for his seventh goal of the season.
Troyes, who had recorded three straight draws in the league, pulled level on 67 minutes when Camus fired a swerving long-range shot past Anthony Lopes.
However, Lyon regained the lead five minutes later as Ghezzal swiveled inside the area and struck a sweet left-footed effort beyond Bernardoni.
Ferri then thumped home a third goal on 81 minutes after an inviting lay-off from Clement Grenier with Beauvue heading in a fourth in stoppage-time.
Elsewhere, AS Monaco needed a Fabinho penalty and a goal from veteran Portuguese defender Ricardo Carvalho to salvage a 2-2 draw at home to Gazelec Ajaccio after the visitors had taken control through first-half strikes from Khalid Boutaib and John Tshibumbu.
Pierrick Capelle and Billy Ketkeophomphone were on target for Angers SCO in a 2-0 win over Stade Malherbe Caen that bumped the hosts back up to second place, a point ahead of Monaco.
Stade Rennais fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at home to Lorient as France playmaker Yoann Gourcuff, who joined Rennes as a free agent in November last year, made his first appearance in 10 months.
Wissam Ben Yedder netted a hat-trick to lead Toulouse to a 3-1 victory at 10-man Stade de Reims and move them within a point of safety, while Cheick Diabate grabbed the only goal for Girondins de Bordeaux in a 1-0 victory at Montpellier Herault.
An “outstanding” 17-year-old Chinese badminton player died of cardiac arrest after collapsing on court during a tournament in Indonesia, officials said yesterday. Zhang Zhijie was playing a match late Sunday against Japan’s Kazuma Kawano at the Badminton Asia Junior Championships in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The score was 11-11 in the first game when Zhang fell to the floor between points. The teenager received treatment at the venue and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance, but passed away later that night after repeated efforts to resuscitate him failed. “Medical conclusions ... indicated that the victim experienced sudden cardiac arrest,” Broto Happy, spokesman for
Taiwan will have two pairs vying for the women’s doubles at the Olympic Games’ tennis event in Paris as Chan Hao-ching (詹皓晴) and her older sister Latisha Chan (詹詠然) officially clinched their third straight Olympic berth, the Chinese Taipei Tennis Association said Thursday. According to the association, the International Tennis Federation confirmed Wednesday evening the Chan sisters’ qualification for the event, meaning they will join the duo of Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and Tsao Chia-yi (曹家宜) to compete in the quadrennial sports jamboree. There are 16 entries in each doubles event. Hsieh, ranked No. 2 in the world on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA)
ONE GAME LEFT: ‘We 100 percent believe that this is the team,’ Kagiso Rabada said when asked if this team could end South Africa’s long World Cup drought A long, tortuous World Cup title drought is closer than ever to ending for South Africa after a nine-wicket win over first-time semi-finalist Afghanistan at the global T20 World Cup cricket tournament on Wednesday. Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada set the foundations for the lopsided victory with destructive opening bursts of pace bowling to have Afghanistan reeling at 20-4 in the fourth over, and eventually all out for a paltry 56. The South Africans lost just one wicket in pursuit of its first semi-final win at a global men’s limited-overs tournament, with Reeza Hendricks hitting a six and a four on consecutive
Taiwan is to have two pairs vying for the women’s doubles at the Olympic Games’ tennis event in Paris as Chan Hao-ching and her older sister Latisha Chan officially clinched their third straight Olympic berth, the national tennis association said on Thursday. The International Tennis Federation on Wednesday evening confirmed the Chan sisters’ qualification for the event, meaning they would join the duo of Hsieh Su-wei and Tsao Chia-yi to compete in the Olympics. There are 16 entries in each doubles event. Hsieh, ranked No. 2 in the world on the Women’s Tennis Association doubles rankings as of Monday, secured her slot earlier,