Lyon held by Bordeaux, miss chance to go third in Ligue 1

PARIS (Reuters) – Olympique Lyonnais missed a chance to go third in Ligue 1 on Saturday when they could only draw 1-1 at home with mid-table Girondins Bordeaux.

Bordeaux were the better team throughout and had an early goal chalked off thanks to the VAR but it was Lyon, who have now won two of their last seven competitive games, who took the lead just before halftime when Houssem Aouar scored with a sweet half-volley.

The home side kept pushing for an equaliser and got their reward after 73 minutes when Danish striker Andreas Cornelius scored his first goal for the club.

The point took fourth-placed Lyon on to 21, one behind Montpellier, who face Olympique de Marseille in Sunday’s big game.

Paris St Germain beat second-place Lille 2-1 on Friday to record their 12th successive league win and extend their lead at the top of the standings to 11 points. Montpellier can draw level in second place if they beat Marseille.

In Saturday’s other games, Thierry Henry is still looking for his first win as AS Monaco coach after they lost 1-0 at Reims.

Mathieu Cafaro scored the Reims goal after 24 minutes in a game that had two sendings-off, Alaixys Romao for Monaco in the 49th minute and Pele for Reims 19 minutes from time.

The team from the principality have now gone 14 games without a win and lie second bottom, level on points with last-placed Guingamp who go to Nantes on Sunday.

Henry is the first Monaco coach not to record a win in his first three league games in charge since Laurent Banide seven years ago.

Caen went down to their first home defeat of the season when Stade Rennes won 2-1 in Normandy.

Adrien Hunou scored the first for Rennes after 60 minutes and Ismaila Sarr doubled their lead. Enzo Crivelli pulled one back for the home side in the 90th minute but it was too late to change the result.