Bordeaux draws 0-0 with Monaco in French league

Mar 13, 2010 - 10:59 PM By JEROME PUGMIRE AP Sports Writer

PARIS(AP) -- Defending champion Bordeaux's poor form continued when it was held to a 0-0 draw Saturday away to Monaco.

Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc sought to shake his team up by leaving top scorer Marouane Chamakh and France playmaker Yoann Gourcuff on the bench, but even when they came on Bordeaux could not break down Monaco's defense.

Bordeaux stayed top because second-place Montpellier drew 1-1 at home with third-place Auxerre. Bordeaux is level with Montpellier with 53 points but has a better goal difference and has played a game less. Auxerre is one point behind them.

"Despite the difficult spell we have been in, we can still rise to the challenge in the league, the Champions League and the League Cup final," Blanc said. "I was impressed with the way the players stuck together tonight."

Bordeaux has won only one of its last six league games, and the pressure is on Blanc's team ahead of next week's match against Olympiakos in the return leg of the Champions League last 16.

Lyon, which knocked Real Madrid out of the Champions League in midweek, needed a late goal from Argentina striker Lisandro Lopez to scrape a 1-1 home draw against local rival Saint-Etienne.

Lyon missed the chance to move level on points with Bordeaux in a title race which is now wide open.

Lopez headed home a cross from Jeremy Toulalan in the 78th minute for his 12th league goal of the season. Emmanuel Riviere had put the visitors ahead in the 38th with his sixth goal of the season after being set up by Gonzalo Bergessio.

Lyon stays two points off the lead but has played 28 games, one more than Bordeaux.

Bordeaux, which lost 2-1 at home to Auxerre in midweek, had seemed in total command when it led Montpellier by 10 points and Lyon by 13 at the winter break, and expectation was high that the team could win the domestic treble.

But since January, the growing speculation whether Blanc will replace Raymond Domenech as France coach after this year's World Cup, the poor form of Gourcuff and Chamakh's on-off transfer to Arsenal have been factors in Bordeaux's dip.

Auxerre and Montpellier have emerged as surprise challengers, while Lyon's resurgence has seen it close the gap.

Auxerre took the lead on the stroke of halftime when Kenya striker Dennis Oliech finished confidently after running onto a pass from Daniel Niculae.

Alberto Costa equalized for Montpellier midway through the second half with a firm shot from outside the penalty area that found the bottom corner. Costa had also salvaged a point for Montpellier when it drew 1-1 at Bordeaux last week.

"We're not disappointed, Auxerre are title challengers as well, and we held them to a draw," Montpellier coach Rene Girard said.

Auxerre had several chances to win, with Poland striker Irineusz Jelen missing a one-on-one with the goalkeeper, spurning an open goal and wasting four other chances.

"Against Bordeaux he had two chances and took both, tonight he had six and scored none ... that's football," Auxerre coach Jean Fernandez said "I spoke to him for 30 seconds in the dressing room afterward and he is livid with himself."

In Saturday's other results, it was: Le Mans 0, Nice 1; Lorient 1, Lens 0; Nancy 1, Boulogne 3; and Paris Saint-Germain 4, Sochaux 1.

Security was high outside Parc des Princes ahead of PSG's match after violent clashes before the previous home game against Marseille two weeks ago, when brutal street battles between rival PSG fans left one fan fighting for his life in a coma. Sections of PSG's support from the Tribune d'Auteuil stayed away from Saturday's game.

Paris Saint-Germain raced into a 3-0 lead at halftime, with Turkey forward Mevlut Erding scoring twice and strike partner Guillaume Hoarau adding the other.

Erding completed his hat-trick midway through the second half after Ryad Boudebouz had pulled a goal back for Sochaux from the penalty spot.

Defender Laurent Agouazzi gave Boulogne the lead in the 33rd minute with a powerful free kick, and Nancy equalized in the 41st when Chris Malonga turned in a cross from Reynald Lemaitre.

Boulogne, which is down in 19th place, sealed the win with second-half goals from strikers Matt Moussilou and Alexandre Cuvillier.

Nice secured a vital win its fight against relegation with France striker Loic Remy scoring in the 76th minute. Nice moved eight points clear of the relegation zone, but Le Mans remains in trouble in 18th place, one point above Boulogne.

In Sunday's games, it is: Lille vs. Grenoble; Valenciennes vs. Rennes; and Toulouse vs. Marseille.