Marseille win as Monaco humbled by Lens

Paris (AFP) – Marseille continued their unbeaten start to the Ligue 1 season after a late Nicolas Pallois own goal gave them a 2-1 win over Nantes at the Velodrome on Saturday. Alexis Sanchez made his home debut following his recent arrival in Marseille but the Chilean had been substituted by the time the game […]

London (AFP) – Crystal Palace signed Mali midfielder Cheick Doucoure from Lens in a deal worth a reported £20 million ($23 million) on Monday. Doucoure agreed a five-year contract with the Premier League club after impressing for Lens in the French top-flight last season. The 22-year-old was one of Patrick Vieira's top transfer targets as […]

Paris (AFP) – French football authorities on Monday ordered Lens to play their home matches behind closed doors until further notice after a half-time pitch invasion marred their 1-0 win over northern rivals Lille. The ruling applies to Wednesday's Ligue 1 game against Strasbourg and the October 1 visit of Reims. A final decision will […]

Paris (AFP) – Seko Fofana clinched a point for Lens after Saint-Etienne's Wahbi Khazri had opened the scoring early on in Sunday's 2-2 draw on the weekend that Lionel Messi was unveiled to the Paris Saint-Germain crowd. A capacity crowd of 38,000 at Stade Bollaert-Delelis were stunned into silence after just 20 seconds as Khazri tapped home […]