Saint Etienne, France – Lyon moved five points clear at the top of Ligue 1 on Sunday after surviving the dismissal of Mouhamadou Dabo to claim a 1-0 win at St Etienne.
Dabo was sent off in the 55th minute for delivering a headbutt to St Etienne's Max Gradel with the match level at 0-0.
But Lyon defied the odds to take the lead 10 minutes later when Michel Bastos buried a free kick from 25 yards to stun the home crowd.
St Etienne was attempting to extend its unbeaten run to 11 games on Sunday, but despite playing up a man, the equalizing goal never materialized as the best chance the hosts had was a low shot from Francois Clerc that managed to skip past the post.
Substitute Alejandro Alonso then picked up his second yellow card for St Etienne with six minutes play, sabotaging the comeback effort of his team.
Lorient 3, Marseille 0
Marseille, France - Marseille slumped to a 3-0 home defeat against Lorient on Sunday, leaving the club five points off the top of Ligue 1.
The turning point in the match came after 38 minutes when Marseille's Charles Kabore fouled Jeremie Aliadiere inside the penalty area, earning himself a second yellow card and an early dismissal, while Aliadiere converted the subsequent spot kick.
Down a goal and down a man to start the second half, Marseille offered little resistance and went down two goals in the 47th minute when a failed clearance allowed Benjamin Corgnet to fire home the second goal of the contest for the visitors.
Kevin Monnet-Paquet capped the scoring 20 minutes from time when he rolled home a shot after being set up by Aliadiere.
Reims 0, Bordeaux 0
Reims, France - Bordeaux failed to move into the top three on Sunday after being held to a 0-0 draw at Reims.
The home side had claimed just one point from its last five games, but they had the better of the chances against top-half Bordeaux, which sits in sixth place following the result.
Floyd Ayite had the best opportunity of the game for either side when his shot beat Bordeaux goalkeeper Cedric Carrasso, but crashed against the crossbar.
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