Nice stumble at Clermont as Ligue 1 hit by blizzard of red cards

Paris (AFP) – Struggling Nice lost 1-0 at Clermont on Sunday, finishing with nine men on an afternoon when seven players saw red in Ligue 1.

Brest won 3-1 at Angers, who ended with 10 men, and Auxerre won 2-1 at Montpellier as both teams had two men sent off.

Elsewhere, Toulouse and Lorient drew 2-2 and, in the early game, Strasbourg and Reims drew 1-1.

Nice, who spent much of last season in the top three before finishing fifth, have not won this season. They drew their first two league games and lost 1-0 away to Maccabi Haifa in their Europa League playoff first leg.

Saif-Eddine Khaoui scored the only goal in the fifth minute.

Nice lost Mario Lemina in the 80th minute, shown a red card for a tackle from behind. Two minutes later, Jean-Clair Todibo collected his second yellow for dissent after a foul was awarded against Aaron Ramsey.

Nice sunk to 16th.

In Toulouse, Armand Lauriente opened the scoring for the visitors with a free-kick in the second minute.

Rafael Ratao pounced on a poor clearance by centre-back Julien Laporte to level in the 30th minute.

Toulouse goalkeeper Maxime Dupe saved a penalty by Terem Moffi before half-time.

The hosts took the lead with a 63rd-minute goal by Thijs Dallinga before Lorient won a second penalty which Ibrahima Kone converted.

There were four red cards in Montpellier, where Auxerre gained their first victory in Ligue 1 since May 2012.

Mamadou Sakho headed the home team into a first-half lead.

By the time Nuno da Costa levelled in the 70th minute, both teams had lost a player. Montpellier midfielder Khalil Fayad was sent off in the 46th minute and Auxerre striker M’Baye Niang in the 51st.

After Mathias Autret scored the winner, with a 75th-minute penalty, Da Costa and then Montpellier midfielder Teji Savanier were sent off.

Angers were already trailing to a 10th-minute goal by Jeremy Le Douaron when Halid Sabanovic was shown a straight red in the 35th minute.

Le Douaron scored again and Achraf Dari added a third before Sofiane Boufal struck for the home team.

Reims, who had conceded four goals in each of their first two games, gained their first point of the season when Folarin Balogun levelled in the 81st minute to secure a 1-1 draw in Strasbourg.