PARIS: Seven-time French champions Olymp­ique Lyonnais battled to their first point of the Ligue 1 season on Sunday in a 0-0 draw at Nice while unfashionable Lorient, Metz and Stade de Reims all won.

Lyon, with former France manager Laurent Blanc in charge, had lost their opening two games but fought out a bruising and tempestuous stalemate to get off the mark.

It was a mediocre match that did little to suggest Lyon have turned a corner but avoiding a third successive defeat will come as a relief.

Lorient raced into a 2-0 lead and went on to outclass Lille 4-1, winning for the first time this season.

Laurent Abergel and Julien Ponceau headed in early goals for Lorient inside the first 10 minutes with Romain Faivre and Vincent Le Goff making sure of the three points after the break.

Reims’ new signing Teddy Teuma scored two superb goals, the first a direct free kick and the second a thumping half-volley, as they beat Montpellier 3-1 away, winning for a second successive week.

Reims are up to third spot on six points, one behind early leaders Monaco and Olympique de Marseille.

Patrick Vieira won a second successive home game in charge of his new club Racing Strasbourg as they beat Toulouse 2-0 in an easy assignment where they were rarely threatened as they moved onto six points.

Georges Mikautadze scored to give promoted Metz a 1-0 win away at Clermont Foot for their first victory of the season, relegating their hosts to bottom of the standings. Clermont have lost all three of their matches this term.

The other promoted club Le Havre drew 2-2 at Stade Rennais earlier on Sunday, coming from 2-0 down after 24 minutes.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2023