Valbuena denies Lyon league lead

A second-half equaliser by French international Mathieu Valbuena saw champions Marseille draw 1-1 with Lyon and deny the visitors top spot in the league table on Sunday.

Valbuena’s third league goal of the season got Marseille back on level terms after Argentinian Lisandro had given Lyon the lead in the 34th minute for his eighth of the season which saw the game end with a heated argument between Marseille’s veteran Argentinian fullback Gabriel Heinze and Lyon’s Jimmy Briand.

The result sees Lyon in fourth place a point behind leaders Lille, who have a game in hand, while Marseille are another two points adrift.

Lyon took the lead as Lisandro’s crisply struck shot, after being well found by Brazilian Michel Bastos, beat Steve Mandanda, though the goalkeeper could look askance at his defence who had left the Argentinian star unmarked.

The visitors went into the break as leaders of the league but were back among the also rans in the 51st minute when Valbuena nipped in behind the static Lyon defence and flicked Benoit Cheyrou’s ball past Hugo Lloris.

Lyon went close to restoring their lead in the 64th minute as Cheyrou was dispossessed by Cameroon midfielder Jean II Makoun and his pass found Bafetembi Gomis, but his shot slid the wrong side of the post.

The day’s only other match to survive the inhospitable weather sweeping across Europe saw 2009 French champions Bordeaux held to their fourth successive draw, a 1-1 stalemate with Sochaux.

Brazilian striker Jussie had given Bordeaux the lead in the 28th minute with a header from Czech Republic international midfielder Jaroslav Plasil’s corner, the 11th goal this season out of a total of 21 conceded by the hosts to come from dead ball play.

However, Sochaux levelled six minutes later as playmaker Marvin Martin broke down the right and passed to an unmarked Ideye Brown who slotted the ball past Bordeaux goalkeeper Cedric Carasso.

The visitors pressed hard in the second-half and Malian striker Cheikh Diabate went desperately close to scoring on his first appearance in nearly a year but his shot was brilliantly saved by Pierrick Cros.

Martin – who has created the most goals in the French league this season – went close twice to giving the hosts the three points as first his volley in the 72nd minute came back off the bar and then almost on the final whistle Carasso pulled off a great save from Martin’s fierce shot.

Bordeaux coach Jean Tigana was left frustrated with yet another draw, which sees his side in ninth place, though, only five points off leaders Lille.

“This draw is frustrating because we have not gone up much in the standings, but I witnessed a very good performance from my team in the first-half,” said the former Monaco and Fulham handler.

“But if I saw some quality, we lacked presence in front of goal, even if I was pleasantly surprised by Diabate, who was able to last the whole match after not playing for a year,” added the former French midfield legend.