PARIS: Olympique Lyon rekindled their European challenge by beating Angers 3-0 on Saturday as they won consecutive Ligue 1 games for the first time since early November.

Lyon’s victory moved them up to fifth on 36 points, one behind Angers and three behind third-placed Nice.

Angers were a goal and a man down inside the first 16 minutes following Christophe Jallet’s 13th-minute opener and Thomas Mangani’s red card for an ugly foul on Corentin Tolisso.

Shortly after the break, midfielder Rachid Ghezzal made it 2-0 to Lyon after France winger Mathieu Valbuena and Jallet set him up.

Valbuena then did well to find space inside the area and pick out Tolisso for the third goal.

Caen, also on 36 points, missed the chance to climb up to fourth after losing 2-0 at home to Stade de Reims which saw them drop to eighth on goal difference behind sixth-placed Nantes who drew 0-0 at Toulouse.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2016