Lille beats northern rival Lens 2-0 with stoppage time goals in French league
PARIS (AP) — In-form Jonathan David's penalty in stoppage time broke the deadlock for Lille to beat bitter rival Lens 2-0 in the Ligue 1 Derby of the North on Saturday.
David scored eight minutes into added time amid whistles and boos from the home fans. It was the Canadian's 11th goal in 16 appearances in all competitions.
David celebrated by mimicking firing pistols with his hands, and received a yellow card.
“It’s a derby, it’s hot, to win here is always important,” David said.
Mohamed Bayo added the second on the break three minutes later to give Lille more luster to a scrappy win.
Lens, which looked solid throughout but cracked at the very end, slumped to its first league loss.
Tempers frayed at the end as players and staff from both sides got involved in heated exchanges of words and gestures.
Lille was awarded the late penalty after a VAR check which confirmed that Kevin Danso handled the ball in the area.
“You can feel that strength of character,” Lille defender Bafodé Diakité said. “They posed us problems, but our strength at the moment is to play all together, to try not to concede goals and not giving up until the end.”
Lille's second straight road win followed a 3-1 victory at Atletico in the Champions League. After scoring the winner against Real Madrid this month, David had a pair of goals against Atletico on Wednesday.
Lille stayed in fourth place, extending its lead over Lens to three points.
Davitashvili for Saint-Etienne, but Angers wins
Angers and Saint-Etienne are struggling for goals but turned on a lively contest in which Angers won 4-2.
Ibrahima Niane put host Angers back in front from the penalty spot in the 69th minute and Bamba Dieng completed their first win in nine league matches in added time.
“We waited for this win for so long,” said Jean-Eudes Aholou, who also scored for Angers. “We suffered a lot to get it.”
It was the first time Angers scored more than three goals in the league in more than two years.
Angers moved to 14th overall, level on points with Saint-Etienne but with a better goal difference.
Zuriko Davitashvili scored twice, his fifth goal in October for Saint-Etienne following a hat trick.
The highly rated winger joined from Bordeaux this summer as Saint-Etienne prepared to return to the top-flight following a two-year absence. He was a member of the Georgia team which reached the European Championship last 16 this summer and upset Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal.
Brest wins at Reims
Brest scored twice within the opening 18 minutes and held on to win 2-1.
Unbeaten in the Champions League, Brest has not been so successful domestically, losing four matches already. Saturday's result moved it into eighth place, one point behind Reims.
Leader Paris Saint-Germain travels to Marseille on Sunday for the latest installment of Le Classique, the biggest game in French soccer.
__
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
