Ligue 1: Marseille salvage draw against St. Etienne; Caen beat Rennes
Lyon's three-match winning run came to an end as defender Christophe Jallet and midfielder Clement Grenier were sent off in the second half of an ill-tempered 1-0 loss at Lille on Sunday.
An improving Lyon side had scored 10 goals in three league games heading into this match, but fell behind to highly-rated midfielder Sofiane Boufal's seventh goal of the season in the 28th minute.
Boufal's free kick from wide on the left eluded everybody and caught out Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes, who was beaten by the bounce as he anticipated an opposing player latching onto it.
Lyon's fortunes took a turn for the worse when Jallet was red-carded in the 59th after picking up two yellow cards in quick succession. Then, with Lyon pressing for an equalizer, Grenier was shown the red card in the 88th for elbowing Lille midfielder Florent Balmont in the face. Lille also had five players booked and a further three Lyon players were cautioned by referee Benoit Bastien.
Lyon is in fifth place, two points behind fourth-place Saint-Etienne and third-place Nice -- which are separated on goal difference -- and 10 behind second-place Monaco.
Runaway leader Paris Saint-Germain is 24 points clear of Monaco and close to wrapping up a fourth straight title.
Earlier, Marseille rescued a 1-1 draw against Saint-Etienne with a stoppage-time equalizer despite being reduced to 10 men, while Caen beat Rennes 1-0.
Michy Batshuayi headed in Romain Alessandrini's free-kick in the fourth minute of added time after Kevin Monnet-Paquet's 85th-minute goal appeared to have secured the points for the visitors.
Marseille played the last half hour with 10 men after defender Nicolas N'Koulou was shown a straight red card for a challenge from behind on Vincent Pajot.
Saint-Etienne remained fourth but is now eight points behind second-place Monaco, which beat Troyes 3-1 on Saturday, while PSG thrashed Reims 4-1.
Caen rose to seventh, a point above Rennes -- and two behind Saint-Etienne -- after Said Ntibazonkiza's first Ligue 1 goal.
Improving Lille moved up to 12th spot.
