Benzema seals Lyon win

November 3, 2008

A superb individual strike from Karim Benzema sealed Lyon’s 2-0 win over Le Mans, moving them four points clear at the top of Ligue 1 and setting them up nicely for Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League clash with Steaua Bucharest.

Lyon have now put together two victories in a row, following their 2-0 win over Sochaux in midweek, which followed two draws and a defeat.

Puel said afterwards: “We put in a serious and well-executed performance and never let Le Mans play their game. It was important to score the second goal to make sure we kept in charge of the match.

“It also meant players could conserve their energy, particularly for the Champions League match on Wednesday which will come up very quickly. We now need to put an emphasis on recuperation because players have to be able to play one match after another.”

A second goal from Juninho, 11 minutes into the second half, sealed the win for the defending Champions.

The result keeps Lyon four points ahead of Marseille, who won 3-1 at home to St Etienne on Saturday.

Midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa, who had refused to come on as a second half substitute during last weeks 4-2 defeat by Paris Saint Germain, was back in the good books after netting from the penalty spot to add to Benoit Cheyrou’s early opener.

The victory moved Marseille into second place ahead of Bordeaux, who lost 1-0 at lowly Nancy.

Elsewhere, PSG’s inconsistent form continued as they lost 1-0 at Nice, leaving them in 11th place in the table and already 10 points off the pace.

There was better news for Monaco, whose thrilling 3-2 victory at Le Havre edges them clear of relegation trouble.

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