Wendel dives in to send Bordeaux back to top

Defending champions Bordeaux returned to the top of the French first division after an impressive 1-0 victory at home to previously unbeaten Rennes on Sunday.

A 24th-minute diving header by Brazilan midfielder Wendel was enough to secure Laurent Blanc’s side the points but only a combination of excellent goalkeeping and profligate finishing kept the visitors in the game.

Bordeaux survived an early scare when Yann Mvila shot into the side netting after dispossessing the meandering Michael Ciani, before Wendel deftly guided Benoit Tremoulinas’s left-wing centre inside the right-hand post.

Bordeaux midfielder Yoann Gourcuff was at his inspirational best and he twice laid on chances for Marouane Chamakh, the Morocco international shooting over after a delightful six-pass exchange with his French team-mate and then heading just wide from Gourcuff’s inswinging corner.

Visiting goalkeeper Nicolas Douchez made a terrific reflex stop to keep out Wendel’s deflected free-kick in the 65th minute and then denied substitute David Bellion late on, as Bordeaux strongly closed out a win that takes them a point above second-placed Lyon and leaves Rennes fifth.

Earlier on Sunday, a superb last-minute goal from Pierre-Alain Frau earned Lille a 1-1 draw at home to Nice, who remain second-bottom.

The Mediterranean side went ahead through France Under-21 striker Loic Remy in the 61st minute and were closing in on what would have been only their second win of the season until Frau bent a first-time shot into the top-right corner from the edge of the penalty area in the dying moments.

In the day’s other game, Le Mans climbed out of the bottom three thanks to a 3-0 victory at home to last season’s Ligue 2 champions Lens.

Frederic Thomas put Le Mans 2-0 up with a pair of unstoppable 20-yard strikes before former Liverpool midfielder Anthony Le Tallec sealed victory shortly after the hour-mark with a towering header.

Marseille suffered their first defeat of the campaign on Saturday, after Brazilian defender Rafael Schmitz’s header seven minutes from time gave Valenciennes a 3-2 victory at the Stade Nungesser.

The big-spending southern giants had twice led, through summer signing Fernando Morientes and captain Mamadou Niang, and coach Dider Deschamps was frustrated by their sub-par showing just four days prior to Wednesday’s Champions League group stage match at Real Madrid.

“We led twice but gave away too much space,” said Deschamps. “We missed a little aggression and Valenciennes were superior to us in the tackles, in the duels. We were well below what we are capable of.”

Lyon continued their unbeaten start to the season at home to Toulouse, fighting back after falling behind to Moussa Sissoko’s eighth-minute opener to win 2-1 thanks to France striker Bafetimbi Gomis’s fourth goal of the season.

Montpellier moved level on points with third-placed Marseille after a 1-0 win over fellow new boys Boulogne-sur-Mer, while Paris Saint-Germain were held 1-1 at Lorient.