Football Further

Posts Tagged ‘Hugo Lloris’

“DONETSK, Ukraine – France’s players admitted to frustration after failing to turn their dominance into victory against England in their Euro 2012 opener but took heart from their reaction to falling behind.”

My reaction piece on France’s 1-1 draw with England on Monday can be read here.

A bite-size round-up of the week’s events in French football, for anyone who wants to keep up with what’s happening in Ligue 1 but hasn’t got the time (or the French) to do so.

Ligue 1
And then there were two. A week after Paris Saint-Germain gave up the ghost in the Ligue 1 title race, Lyon and Rennes both followed suit in Week 29.

Lyon led 2-0 going into injury time at Nice on Sunday, before capitulating completely in the space of just three minutes to leave their title ambitions in tatters. Pape Diakhaté was the villain of the piece. Having already conceded a penalty for a rash foul on Danijel Ljuboja, whose subsequent spot-kick was saved by Hugo Lloris, the on-loan Senegalese international stupidly scythed down Abdou Traoré and was promptly shown a second yellow card.

Eric Mouloungui punished Diakhaté’s indiscipline from the spot and moments later, Argentine centre-back Renato Civelli prodded in from close range – with his arm – to earn Nice an improbable draw and send Lyon into meltdown. Lloris lost his rag in the tunnel after the game and Jean-Michel Aulas was involved in a heated confrontation with Nice assistant coach Frédéric Gioria. Aly Cissokho, meanwhile, was drawn into an unsightly row with a supporter (sample quote: “And your mum!”) in training on Wednesday.

Lyon are now eight points behind Lille, who made it four wins on the spin with a 3-1 dismantling of Caen. Benoît Cheyrou’s fine second-half strike gave Marseille a 1-0 win at Lens on Sunday night to keep the champions within four points of Lille and launch what now seems certain to be a two-horse title race.

Rennes failed to muster a single shot on target in their 0-0 draw at home to Auxerre and lie seven points behind Lille in third place. PSG endured just as dismal an afternoon in a goalless draw at home to Lorient. It leaves them 12 points behind Lille in fifth and just four points above Montpellier, who won 1-0 at Toulouse.

Ligue 1 results
Saturday: Arles-Avignon 0-2 Monaco, Lille 3-1 Caen, Nancy 0-0 Bordeaux, PSG 0-0 Lorient, Rennes 0-0 Auxerre, Sochaux 2-1 Brest, Toulouse 0-1 Montpellier; Sunday: Nice 2-2 Lyon, Saint-Etienne 1-1 Valenciennes, Lens 0-1 Marseille

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A bite-size round-up of the week’s events in French football, for anyone who wants to keep up with what’s happening in Ligue 1 but hasn’t got the time (or the French) to do so.

Ligue 1
A shock home defeat for champions Marseille and a limp goalless draw for fellow title favourites Lyon were the most notable results of the opening weekend in Ligue 1, as France turned its attention back to domestic football after the humiliation of the World Cup.

Promoted Caen produced the sensation of the first match day with an enterprising and fearless 2-1 win over a Marseille side heavy of limb and missing a number of important players. The introduction of Hatem Ben Arfa in the second half sparked OM into life after captain Nicolas Seube’s speculative effort had put the visitors ahead, but despite drawing level through Mamadou Samassa they were undone by a late header from the excellent Youssef El-Arabi (pictured).

Lyon were grateful for the astonishing reflexes of Hugo Lloris, who produced more heart-stopping saves than some goalkeepers manage in an entire career to keep Monaco at bay at Stade Gerland. Stéphane Ruffier, who made his France debut against Norway on Wednesday, was almost equally impressive at the other end.

Mevlut Erding scored the season’s first goal to put Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 up at home to Saint-Etienne. An acrobatic volley from Stéphane Sessegnon (that required a helping hand from Jérémie Janot to cross the line) and an emphatic finish by new recruit Nenê secured a 3-1 win that put PSG top of the fledgling standings, but clashes with police prior to the match at the Parc des Princes saw 249 fans arrested (all but two from the ranks of the home side’s supporters).

The other promoted teams were unable to follow Caen’s lead. Arles-Avignon went down 2-1 at Sochaux and Brest fell 2-0 at Toulouse. Jean Tigana’s first competitive game as Bordeaux coach ended with a 1-0 defeat at Montpellier – the only side from last year’s top 10 to win their opening game.

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Hot on the heels of the Goals of the Season, we move on to the Football Further European Team of the Season. As in any decent dream team this side is strongly, perhaps even foolishly, oriented towards attack.

Formation: 4-2-3-1-ish

Goalkeeper: Hugo Lloris (Lyon)
Lyon have not had a great season by their recent standards – despite reaching the last four of the Champions League for the first time in their history – but Lloris’s performances in both Ligue 1 and Europe have elevated him to the position of Europe’s best up-and-coming goalkeeper. He was the difference between the sides in Lyon’s Champions League quarter-final win over Bordeaux thanks to some stunning reaction saves and a move to a top-rank European club cannot be far away.

Right-back: Maicon (Inter)
The world’s best full-back has added spectacular goals to his trade and continues to be one of Inter’s most potent attacking weapons. His juggle-and-volley goal against Juventus will live long in the memory but his strike in the 3-2 win at Udinese, when he started a move inside his own half and finished it with a crashing volley off the crossbar, was every bit as delicious.

Centre-back: Gerard Piqué (Barcelona)
Has developed into probably the finest ball-playing centre-back on the continent. The awareness and sangfroid he showed to spin Inter goalkeeper Julio César and finish into an empty net in the dying minutes of Barca’s Champions League semi-final defeat to Inter was worthy of the world’s top strikers.

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