Ligue 1 Wrap: Marseille, Saint-Etienne win again

Marseille continued their winning start to the Ligue 1 season as they comfortably beat Evian 2-0 at Stade Velodrome on Saturday.

It took Elie Baup’s men just 16 minutes to get off the mark and Andre-Pierre Gignac ensured they did so in style. The France international striker brought down a lofted ball from Rod Fanni, turned inside his marker and shot into the bottom left corner from the edge of the area.

Dimitri Payet got Marseille’s second on 67 minutes, and it was just as eye-catching. The close-season arrival from Lille twisted his way past Jonathan Mensah before stroking a controlled effort past Bertrand Laquait to maintain the hosts’ 100 per cent record.

Elsewhere, Bordeaux had to battle hard for a point at Toulouse as they held the hosts to a 1-1 draw despite having defender Marc Planus sent off.

Cheick Diabate put the visitors ahead in the 43rd minute, but their lead lasted just two minutes as Eden Ben Basat brought the score level to keep both sides just above the bottom three after two games.

Saint-Etienne picked up their second win of the season thanks to Fabien Lemoine’s wonderful long-range effort, a result that means newly promoted Guingamp are still searching for their first point in the top flight.

Lille, one of the sides hoping to be in the mix the top of the table at the end of the season, suffered a surprising 2-1 loss at Reims.

Mads Albaek scored the hosts’ first goal with just seven minutes on the clock and they managed to hold their own throughout before Christopher Glombard added a second. Marko Basa pulled one back for Lille in the 89th minute, but this proved to be merely a consolation.

On the south coast, Nice picked up their first win of the campaign as they beat Philippe Montanier’s Rennes, with goals from Dario Cvitanich and Jeremy Pied cancelling out Nelson Oliveira’s strike on the stroke of half-time.

Bastia also got their season up and running as two goals in the final 15 minutes from Gianni Bruno and Adama Ba saw them triumph over Valenciennes.