Coupe de France final

In a thoroughly stunning match, Olympique Lyonnais narrowly defeated Paris Saint-Germain 1 - 0 on a Sidney Govou strike in extra-time. For the majority of the match, PSG controlled the match but were continuously stymied by by Lyon goalkeeper, man-of-the-match Gregory Coupet. This was also the final match wearing the PSG jersey for Pedro Pauleta ~

Ligue 1 Orange finale

It's a peculiar thing to start the review of the final day of the season in which the title was won by Lyon to note first, thankfully PSG was saved from relegation but such is the case. With PSG's noble victory 2-1 over Sochaux on the strength of Amare Diané two goals and Bordeaux and Lens 2-2 draw, PSG was saved.















Of course the real story was Lyon's victory which secured their seventh consecutive Ligue 1 title. Their 3-1 victory over Auxerre was never in-doubt as only a minute into the match Karim Benzema scored and the second was added by Fred ten minutes later.

On the opposite end of the table, Lens which had flown so high last year and bordered upon a Champions League spot is sent down to Ligue 2 with Strasbourg and Metz. It is a painful taste for Lens and hopefully a short-lived exodus. Equally said, PSG and Toulouse which look condemned pulled-off the Ligue 1 "great escape". From Ligue 2, Le Havre, Nantes and possibly the best excuse for a road-trip next season Grenoble.

In another odd side-story with Nancy seemingly having locked up third place and the final Champions League spot, they lost to Rennes 3-2 while Olympique Marseille beat Strasbourg 4-3 on two Djibril Cisse goals as well as one each by Sami Nasir and Mamadou Niang. With this swing, Marseille which seemed to have dropped any chance of the Champions League next season with squandered points finds itself in third place and in the Champions League. Allez l'OM Allez!

As an aside, Marseille, which is owned by Robert Louis-Dreyfus the CEO of Adidas-Salomon, unveiled it's kit for next season using a argyle-vest pattern a hint of things to come from Adidas. The jersey is available online now -
























































































Final table ~

	GP	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals	Against	Total
Olympique Lyonnais	38	24	7	7	74	37	79
FC Girondins de Bordeaux	38	22	9	7	65	38	75
Olympique Marseille	38	17	11	10	58	45	62
AS Nancy Lorraine	38	15	15	8	44	31	60
Saint-Étienne Loire	38	16	10	12	47	34	58
Stade Rennais FC	38	16	10	12	47	44	58
Lille O.S.C.	38	13	18	7	45	32	57
Nice-Côte d'Azur	38	13	16	9	35	30	55
Le Mans	38	14	11	13	46	49	53
Lorient	38	12	16	10	32	35	52
SM Caen	38	13	12	13	48	53	51
AS Monaco FC	38	13	8	17	40	48	47
Valenciennes FC	38	12	9	17	42	40	45
Sochaux-Montbéliard	38	10	14	14	34	43	44
AJ Auxerre	38	12	8	18	33	52	44
Paris Saint-Germain	38	10	13	15	37	45	43
Toulouse FC	38	9	15	14	36	42	42
Racing Club de Lens	38	9	13	16	43	52	40
RC Strasbourg	38	9	8	21	34	60	35
FC Metz	38	5	9	24	28	64	24

Ligue 1

The Ligue 1 title is pretty much Lyon's with a solid race for the Champions League qualifying spot between Nancy and Marseille. Quite possibly the biggest "race" is to avoid relegation and the dreaded thought of PSG being demoted (hmm..they need a coach familiar to the area who can teach them to win. I wonder who).

Saturday
Saint-Étienne 4 Le Mans 1
SM Caen 1 Valenciennes FC 0
Lille O.S.C. 0 Nice-Côte d'Azur 0
Sochaux-Montbéliard @ AJ Auxerre
AS Monaco FC 2 RC Strasbourg 0
important win for Monaco that should guarantee their safety

FC Lorient Bretagne Sud 0 Toulouse FC 0
Bordeaux 2 Stade Rennais 0
Metz 1 Lens 1

Sunday
Nancy 1 Paris Saint-Germain 0
Marseille 3 Lyonnais 1
In a weekend full of stunning matches (Juventus ~ Palermo, Leeds ~ Leyton, Monterrey ~ Veracruz) this was one of the best.

Throughout the year, Marseille has exhibited multiple personalities, often a porous defense, sometimes lacking offensive vision and at other times, looking like a rival to the top clubs in Europe. Today Eric Gerets squad were the brilliant attacking team and humbled the soon to be league champions, Lyon.

Marseille opened the scoring at the twenty-sixth minute with a Djibril Cisse strike and only a few minutes later Mamadou Niang neatly tucked in the second of the match. Lyon drew one back before the half but Niang headed home his second of the day early in second half.

	GP	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals	Against	Total
Olympique Lyonnais	32	21	4	7	65	32	67
FC Girondins de Bordeaux	32	18	7	7	56	34	61
AS Nancy Lorraine	32	14	13	5	36	22	55
Olympique Marseille	32	14	10	8	47	34	52
Nice-Côte d'Azur	32	10	14	8	27	24	44
Stade Rennais FC	32	12	8	12	35	38	44
Le Mans	32	12	8	12	36	42	44
Lille O.S.C.	32	9	16	7	34	26	43
Saint-Étienne Loire	31	12	7	12	37	32	43
Lorient	32	10	13	9	27	31	43
SM Caen	32	11	10	11	35	43	43
Valenciennes FC	32	11	8	13	37	32	41
Sochaux-Montbéliard	32	10	11	11	29	34	41
AS Monaco FC	32	11	7	14	33	39	40
AJ Auxerre	32	11	7	14	29	40	40
Racing Club de Lens	31	8	11	12	35	40	35
Toulouse FC	32	7	14	11	28	34	35
Paris Saint-Germain	32	8	11	13	28	35	35
RC Strasbourg	32	9	8	15	29	37	35
FC Metz	32	4	7	21	22	56	18

Wednesday
Racing Club de Lens @ Saint-Étienne Loire

Saturday
Stade Rennais FC @ Olympique Lyonnais
AJ Auxerre @ Le Mans
Saint-Étienne Loire @ FC Sochaux-Montbéliard
AS Nancy Lorraine @ Lille O.S.C.
Toulouse FC @ AS Monaco FC
Olympique Marseille @ FC Metz
RC Strasbourg @ Valenciennes FC
Racing Club de Lens @ Lorient

Sunday
SM Caen @ FC Girondins de Bordeaux
Nice-Côte d'Azur @ Paris Saint-Germain

PSG - Lyon update

that ended quickly as Sidney Govou just scored for Lyon to take a 3-2 lead.

Pace is extremely fast - up & down the pitch

update -

Juninho just scored at 72nd minute giving Lyon a commanding 4-2 lead.

PSG - Lyon

quick update with PSG - Lyon match.

Jerome Rothen of PSG scored at fifty-second minute to bring the match to 2-2 tie. Extremely important match for PSG to avoid relegation