Rennes thrash Dijon to top French Ligue 1

Posted on August 8, 2011 by SoccerPunter

Rennes provisionally took top spot in the French Ligue 1 table on Sunday with a 5-1 rout of newcomers Dijon.

The Britanny side are ahead of Lyon and Montpellier on goal difference with the Burgundy team bottom of the table after their first top-flight outing.

Dijon dominated early play but had little to show for their efforts with efforts from Brice Jovial (7) and Gregory Thil (17) ruled offside.

Rennes found their feet slowly despite Julien Feret missing a 29th-minute penalty as they opened the scoring thanks to Colombian Victor Hugo Montano after 34 minutes.

Two minutes later Feret doubled their account making up for his missed penalty as he picked up a Montano cross to slide the ball past goalkeeper Jean-Daniel Padovani.

Dijon got one back just before half-time with Jovial picking up a Thil corner to finish off with a header.

But Frederic Antonetti’s side quickly regained their two-goal advantage following a solo effort from Togolese midfielder Abdoulrazak Boukari six minutes after the break.

Dijon missed the chance to reduce the deficit when Thil missed a penalty awarded for a foul on Jovial, with the hosts paying the price for poor defending with Kader Mangane (75) and Alexander Tettey (85) concluding the rout.

Paris Saint-Germain on Saturday failed to show the fruits of their money-spinning takeover by Qatar Sports Investments, falling 1-0 at home to Lorient.

Champions Lille and runners-up Marseille both had to settle for a point while Lyon won 3-1 at Nice.

Lille came away with a 1-1 draw despite dominating play at Nancy as Marseille, who conceded 20 points at home last season to finish runners-up, were held 2-2 by Sochaux.

Of the “big four” only Lyon shone on the opening day coming away comfortable 3-1 winners from Nice.

Elsewhere, Montpellier won 3-1 at home against Auxerre while Caen beat Valenciennes 1-0. Ligue 2 winners Evian held Brest 2-2 while as fellow newcomers Ajaccio fell 2-0 at home against Toulouse.