Marseille win three points president would have given away

Marseille’s 2-0 victory at Auxerre earned the three points their club president would have happily given away on a Saturday where temperatures plunged below freezing and brought three postponements.

Mamadou Samassa and Mathieu Valbuena scored either side of the break for Marseille, but had club president Pape Diouf had his way this French league fixture would never have taken place.

Before the match, Diouf told Auxerre president Jean-Claude Hamel that he did not want to play on a frozen pitch. “You can’t play on this pitch. If you want the three points, I give them to you,” Diouf told Hamel in front of TV cameras.

Nancy versus Nice and Le Mans against Lille were called off on Saturday while Valenciennes versus Caen was postponed on Friday following a week-long controversy over the kick-off times of 2000GMT on a weekend where temperatures plunged below freezing.

Marseille coach Eric Gerets said: “The match should not have been played. It was dangerous in the penalty areas. But once the decision had been made, we needed to go out and play like we did against Besancon.”

Amateur side Besancon had forced Marseille into extra time and penalties in last weekend’s French Cup fixture though Marseille won the shootout 5-4.

Half of the 10 second division matches were postponed and nine of 10 in the third-flight were cancelled as low temperatures caused havoc with the schedules.

Valenciennes coach Antoine Kombouare said the late hour of 2000GMT on Friday was the reason the match had to be called off.

“Perhaps we could have played at 3p.m. (1400 GMT),” Kombouare had said.

Football League president Frederic Thiriez said, referring to Valenciennes: “Certain people have discovered it’s cold in winter. What amateurism.”

Paris Saint Germain fullback Sylvain Armand, whose side play at Bordeaux on Sunday, also said the late kick-off was a problem.

“There is a fixture list and technically you need to abide by it, but all this is not conducive to good football. “We shouldn’t be playing at 9p.m. (2000 GMT). An effort should have been made on the kick-off time.”

Six fixtures were played on Saturday however and leaders Lyon maintained their lead following a 1-1 draw at home to Lorient, with Honorato Ederson scoring an early goal for the champions though Fabrice Abriel equalised minutes before the break.

Moussa Sow’s goal earned Rennes a 1-0 victory over Grenoble to propel them into second place though Bordeaux could jump back in behind Lyon with a win at home to Paris Saint Germain in Sunday’s match.

And Toulouse beat nine-man Le Havre 1-0, Nantes won 2-1 at Monaco and Sochaux had a 1-0 victory over St Etienne.