Watch Live Ligue 1 on StarTimes: Match Day 2 report
After their rip-roaring start with a 3-0 win in Nancy last weekend , OL continued where they had left off. Alexandre Lacazette's brace of penalties was enough for Olympique Lyonnais to beat SM Caen 2-0 and maintain their 100 per cent start to the Ligue 1 season.
Former Lyon stalwart Rémy Vercoutre was called into action as early as the seventh minute to turn away a dangerous Lacazette cross and then had to move smartly to halt a Corentin Tolisso effort (17').
Lacazette and Tolisso continued to threaten, and after the latter had seen his deflected shot turned away by Vercoutre, the versatile midfielder's goalbound header from Nabil Fékir's corner was halted en route to the net by the hand of Ivan Santini. Lacazette sent Vercoutre the wrong way from the spot.
There was another save to make for the veteran Caen 'keeper - from a curling Fékir shot - before the break (35'), and he was also able to gleefully grasp a measured Tolisso effort (67') after it.
Former Lyon man Steed Malbranque, a second-half substitute for the visitors, might have grabbed a late equaliser, but Lacazette secured all three points with his second successful penalty of the night after Syam Ben Youssef had fouled Jordan Ferri.
Lacazette has proven his worth time and again for OL, and their determination to hold on to their sought-after star forward this summer looks to be paying off richly.
Lacazette now has five goals in the first two games of the season, his best-ever start to a Ligue 1 campaign, improving on his previous best of three strikes in the opening two matches of 2013-14.
Boschilia's all-important goal arrived in the 25th minute. Monaco were awarded a free-kick when Corentin Jean was fouled by Diego Carlos 25 yards out and the Brazilian stepped up to send a tremendous curling left-foot free-kick into the top-right corner of the net.
Boschilia was also handed a start as he looks to work his way into Jardim's first-team plans after spending the second half of last season on loan in Belgium. His goal will have done his prospects no harm at all, but the result was a huge disappointment to René Girard on his home debut as Nantes coach.
The 20-year-old Brazilian starlet was brought in for big money last summer but struggled to adapt to his new surroundings and also found it tough on loan at Standard de Liège. Now back at Monaco, he finally displayed the kind of class that persuaded the principality club to pay a reported €9 million to São Paulo for his services with the free- kick winner.
Alassane Pléa struck as OGC Nice made it two wins from two to start the season by beating Angers SCO 1-0 on Saturday.
The only goal of the game at the Stade Jean-Bouin came with just five minutes on the clock as Jean Michaël Seri burst into the Angers penalty area and drew goalkeeper Denis Petric before squaring for Pléa, who had an easy finish.
The result allowed Lucien Favre to continue his perfect start to life in Ligue 1 after Nice beat Stade Rennais FC 1-0 on his debut in the dugout last weekend. In contrast it is two straight defeats for Angers, who lost by a single goal in Montpellier on the opening weekend.
With Hatem Ben Arfa and Valère Germain, who scored 31 league goals between them last season, having moved on, Nice need Pléa to step up and weigh in with more goals of his own if they are to enjoy another successful season. Last season he got six goals in a campaign marred by injury and he is now off the mark for 2016-17.
The last time Nice won their opening two games of the season in Ligue 1 was 13 years ago, in 2003-04.
Football is now playing a significant role in the new sports offering of StarTimes. For each Ligue 1 Match Day, viewers will watch 3 matches in entirety and exclusivity on one of the 5 StarTimes sports channels.
From this Friday, August, 26th StarTimes proposes to enter fully into the 2016/2017 season Match Day 3 with the match between Marseille and Lorient, two teams used to be at the top of the Ligue 1 ranking in recent seasons.
This season, enjoy PURE SOCCER on StarTimes sports channels.
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