Montpellier ended the first half of the season on a low note with a 4-2 loss at Evian on Wednesday in a result that let Paris Saint Germain claim the kudos of going into the recess as ‘winter champions’. On the day that Qatari-backed PSG were reported in the local media to have secured the services of David Beckham in the January transfer window the capital-side eked out a 1-0 win at Saint Etienne. Mathieu Bodmer helped PSG into an ultimately decisive 32nd minute lead when in a goalmouth scramble his header hit the left post with Saint Etienne goalkeeper Stephan Ruffier fumbling in vain to stop the ball crossing his line. Ruffier was ‘awarded’ an own goal for his trouble as PSG secured the luxury of looking down on their rivals at Christmas for the first time since 1996-97.
The hard earned result lifted them up to 40 points, three clear of the surprise packages of the campaign so far, Montpellier. Despite losing some of their edge, this Evian reverse came on the back of defeat to Valenciennes and a 1-1 draw with Toulouse, the Provencal side have won 11 and drawn four to sit second heading into 2012. Defending champions Lille ended the first half of their title defence with a 4-4 stalemate against strugglers Nice to leave the northern side four points off the pace in third. Former serial champions Lyon are one point back in fourth after coming unstuck 1-0 at midtable Valenciennes. Rennes, 1-0 winners over Bordeaux, are fourth, with Marseille, who had such a wretched start to their campaign, having broken into the top five on Tuesday with a 3-1 victory at Nancy. At home, Montpellier twice gave away the lead against resilient oppsoition in the shape of promoted side Evian. After a scoreless first half Younes Belhanda put the hosts in control two minutes after the break, only for Cedric Barbosa to level for Evian five minutes later.
France international Olivier Giroud had Montpellier back in front immediately after but goals from Saber Khlifa, Cedric Cambon and Brice Dja Djedje in the space of just six minutes did it for Montpellier. For Giroud that took his tally up to 13 for the campaign, one more than his haul over all of last season. But that was scant consoliation for him. “It was a mass drowning, there were too many defensive errors, we couldn’t hope for better this evening,” he said. “We’re frustrated because we led twice and we weren’t able to control the match.”
