Ligue 1 Review: Bordeaux win for tearful Sagnol

Bordeaux coach Willy Sagnol was moved to tears as he put a week of controversy behind him by seeing his side beat Lens 2-1 on Saturday.

The former Bayern Munich full-back caused a storm in the build-up following comments made about African players in a widely criticised interview with a French newspaper.

FIFA presidential candidate Jerome Champagne was among those to brand the 37-year-old’s comments as “unacceptable”, after he followed up remarks about African players being “cheap” and “ready to fight” with a statement that football “is about technique, intelligence, discipline, so you need everything”.

Having apologised for any offence caused and since attempted to clarify his choice of words, Sagnol headed into Saturday’s clash looking to focus on matters on the pitch, and he was left visibly emotional after being given a show of support by his Malian striker Cheick Diabate, who ran to hug his coach after rounding the goalkeeper to score Bordeaux’s second.

That came after Wahbi Khazri had finished a swift counter-attack to give the visitors a 24th-minute lead.

Lens received a lifeline 16 minutes from time when Marc Planus was harshly adjudged to have fouled Pablo Chavarria inside the penalty area, but they were unable to produce a late comeback despite Yoann Touzghar converting the spot-kick.

The win leaves Bordeaux tied on 24 points with second-placed Paris Saint-Germain, who face pacesetters Marseille on Sunday.

Elsewhere, Bastia got off to a fine start to life without Claude Makelele at the helm as they recorded only their third win of the season in a 2-0 triumph over Montpellier.

Ivorian forward Junior Tallo netted twice in the first half to earn all three points for the home side, who were guided to victory by coaches Ghislain Printant and Herve Sekli.

The biggest winners of the day were Toulouse, who comfortably dispatched Metz 3-0 at home, while Nantes extended their unbeaten run to seven Ligue 1 matches as they beat hosts Caen 2-1.

There was also a win for Evian, as Daniel Wass scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory over Nice.