Brest compound Lyon's woes to go top of Ligue 1

Seven-time former champions Lyon replaced coach Laurent Blanc with Fabio Grosso this month. But the 2006 World Cup winner's tenure on the Lyon bench got off to a sobering start after Steve Mounie's 87th minute goal delivered up Brest's fourth win from the opening six matches.

Mounie's late strike continued Brest's best ever start to a Ligue 1 campaign since they were founded in 1950. It put them in the rare position of topping the table and full of hope of bettering their best ever league finish of eighth in 1987.

For Lyon this fourth loss from six outings left them third from the foot of the league and Grosso with a lot of work ahead. Lyon finished seventh last season to miss out on European competition for the second year running.

In Saturday's other match Nantes beat Lorient 5-3 to move into sixth. Marseille's visit to arch rivals Paris Saint-Germain is the headline fixture on Sunday.

Marseille turn up at the Parc des Princes in a state of crisis. After a stormy fans meeting at the start of the week coach Marcelino, only appointed in June, resigned after just seven games in charge.

Marseille are unbeaten five games into the Ligue 1 campaign and are a point ahead of reigning champions PSG but fans let their team know in no uncertain terms what they thought of the performance in a 0-0 draw with Toulouse last Sunday.

Twenty-four hours later, a meeting between fan representatives and the club's hierarchy reportedly turned nasty, with Marseille saying president Pablo Longoria and several of his senior colleagues were threatened and told to prepare for "war" unless they resigned.

Shocked by what had happened, Longoria and his backroom team opted to step back from their roles and did not travel to Amsterdam for Thursday's Europa League game against Ajax. Then Marcelino quit, with former player Jacques Abardonado put in interim charge.

 

September 23, 2023