TOPS
The impassable Alban Lafont
With five parades after 30 minutes and eight in total, Alban Lafont released the match of his life against Paris Saint-Germain this Saturday.
It is largely thanks to its goalkeeper that FC Nantes, in the hell of Beaujoire, brought down the leader of the French championship (3-1).
In addition to having disgusted Juan Bernat or Kylian Mbappé to name a few, he stopped Neymar's penalty shortly before the hour mark, which is extremely rare for the Brazilian striker.
Such performances coming from a goalkeeper, Ligue 1 has seen very little in recent years.
The doorman of the Canaries thus allowed his people to go up to 6th place in the classification, far from the maintenance race to which they seemed promised at the start of the season.
Read alsoTops / Flops Nantes-PSG: Imperial Lafont like Caesar, Kehrer in Casper mode
Kane rekindles the suspense in the Premier League
He long seemed close to a move to Manchester City last summer.
And this Saturday, it was he who crucified the Skyblues in added time.
Tottenham striker Harry Kane clashed at the Etihad Stadium against the Premier League leader.
He scored twice including a headed goal at the very end of the game, ahead of his English compatriot Kyle Walker (90th +5).
He thus offered a crazy victory to Spurs (2-3) and revived the suspense of the championship.
Liverpool can come within 3 points of City by winning their late game as the two teams meet in April.
A fight for the title in which Tottenham, 7th, is not likely to get involved.
Read alsoPremier League: Kane and Tottenham achieve the feat in Manchester City
Lappartient and Fourcade at the CIO, four French people in the international body
Guy Drut (Olympic champion in the 110m hurdles) and Jean-Christophe Rolland (Olympic rowing champion in 2000) are no longer the only French people to sit on the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The two men were joined by Martin Fourcade, elected to the Athletes' Commission, and David Lappartient, appointed this Saturday on the sidelines of the 139th IOC session in Beijing.
“
I am delighted to have been elected to the IOC
, reacted on Twitter the president of the International Cycling Union (UCI).
It is an honor to continue spreading the message of Olympism as President of the UCI.
“Thanks to these two men, the weight of France in the IOC is being strengthened just over two years from the Paris 2024 Games.
Read alsoJO: Martin Fourcade, the flame always burns (and wins)
Racing 92 smashes UBB home invincibility
The Union Bordeaux-Bègles is no longer undefeated in Chaban-Delmas.
After a big fight, resolved only by a transformation after the siren, the Bordeaux leader fell at home against Racing 92 (13-16).
A big blow that allows the Ile-de-France residents to consolidate their place in the top 6 qualifiers for the play-offs, thus confirming their excellent form in 2022 (5 wins in a row in the Top 14).
But also a great revenge (14-37 defeat in the first leg) for the band to Camille Chat, author of the breakthrough which brought Ben Volavola's penalty after the siren.
"
They had given us a good beating at home, we were keen to take this revenge
", reacted the international hooker at the microphone of
Canal +.
Read alsoTops / Flops UBB-Racing 92: the rear of Racing spread their wings, Seuteni transparent
FLOPS
Leonardo and Verratti, lack of class?
The defeat of PSG in Nantes, four days after the joy of offering Real Madrid in the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League, was surprising.
She even had enough to scandalize her midfielder, Marco Verratti, and the Parisian sports director Leonardo. The problem?
Arbitration.
“
We got pissed
off,” Verratti protested at the Canal+ microphone.
“
There is the desire to whistle against
” PSG, in the eyes of Leonardo.
Admittedly, Mr. Lesage did not deliver his best performance at the whistle.
But as Leonardo pointed out, “
Nantes deserved to win
”.
Were these media outings necessary?
On the merits, the debate could open.
On the form, the two Parisians seemed irrelevant.
Read alsoVerratti, Leonardo, Paris and arbitration: substance and form
Toulouse beaten for the sixth time in a row in the Top 14, in Pau
Nothing is going well in Toulouse.
The reigning French champion suffered Saturday against the Pau Section (27-22), yet reduced to thirteen, his sixth defeat in a row (record) during the 18th day of the Top 14. The worst series of Haut-Garonne in the league .
In Pau, the Toulousains purely and simply sank: unable to get rid of a team in double numerical inferiority (red cards for Manu 33rd and Vatubua 51st), the men of Ugo Mola have no longer won in the league since the November 27 and a victory against Brive (18-11).
Eighty-four days.
An eternity for a club of the standing of the Toulouse Stadium.
To read also Tops / Flops Pau-Toulouse: united Palois, Toulousains lower than earth
Zero points for Alexis Pinturault in Beijing
The best French skier in recent years had one last chance to leave Beijing with a medal on Sunday with the mixed parallel slalom team.
But the champion with 34 World Cup victories left China with a zero point.
A great disappointment for the darling of Courchevel who was entered in five events.
11th in the super-G, 5th in the giant, 16th in the slalom, unclassified in the combined and 5th in the mixed team slalom: so many failures to digest for the athlete who was competing, perhaps, in his last Olympics.
Read alsoJO 2022: how Pinturault's golden dream turned into a nightmare
OM fall back into their failings at the Vélodrome
Never as successful as outside their bases (best team in L1 away from home), OM again disappointed at home this Sunday, where Clermont came to cool a Velodrome full of more than 50,000 supporters (0-2) .
A third defeat at home this season (10th L1 team on home soil) and a well-known scenario for a Marseille team unable to force the decision on home soil.
The last outings against the modest Azeris of Qarabag in C4 (3-1) and Angers (5-2) were however promising, but the gang of Jorge Sampaoli again stalled at "
Vel'
".
Muzzled by an ambitious promoted and a goalkeeper (Djoco) in a state of grace and clearly inspired by Lafont (see above), the dolphin of PSG sees Nice return to a length at the end of this 25th day.
"
We will have to deflate the heads
, ”urged captain Dimitri Payet after the meeting.
Read alsoTops / Flops Marseille-Clermont: The evening of Djoco, OM off topic
