Lyon beat Angers in Ligue 1 game

Olympique Lyon climbed to the fourth position in the French football league with a 2-1 away victory over French Cup finalists Angers SCO at the Stade Raymond Kopa here.

Lyon, who will face Ajax in next week's Europa League semi-finals first leg, warmed up quicker than their tough opponents in their Ligue 1 match here on Friday evening.

Mathieu Valbuena put the ball into the net after Maxime Gonalons forced a save from Angers goalkeeper Alexandre Letellier in the 17th minute, reports Xinhua news agency.

Without injured attackers Alexandre Lacazette and Memphis Depay, Lyon were served well by Nabil Fekir who doubled their lead through a free-kick in the 42nd minute.

Angers, who entered the French Cup final for the first time in the past six decades on Tuesday, pulled one back four minutes after the restart.

Cheikh N'Doye beat Lyon defenders Mouctar Diakhaby and Jeremy Morel to convert a corner from Thomas Mangani.

However, the hosts could not add another to their scoring account, which was worsened by Mateo Pavlovic's red card for a bad foul on Corentin Tolisso with less than 15 minutes to go.

Lyon provisionally went past Bordeaux to be placed fourth with 57 points. Angers remained 14th with 39 points.

Paris Saint-Germain and Nice are set to meet in a high profile clash on Sunday, which may be decisive to the title race this season.

Paris Saint-Germain are currently second with 80 points from 34 matches. They have the same number of points as league leaders AS Monaco, but trail due to an inferior goal difference.

Nice, six points adrift, are placed third.

--IANS

ajb/bg