Girondins de Bordeaux 0-0 FC Lorient

THE MATCH

Bordeaux, Ligue 1 Uber Eats champions as recently as 2009 under Laurent Blanc, have endured a difficult campaign, and welcomed Lorient to their Matmut Atlantique having lost four of their previous five matches. Thing might have got off to the worst possible start when Terem Moffi went down under pressure from Josuha Guilavogui in the home box, but referee Ruddy Buquet waved the Lorient forward's penalty claim away (4'). Armand Laurienté then sent a cross into the area for Dango Ouattara, but the Burkino Faso attacker headed what should have been just his second goal of the season wide of Gaëtan Poussin's post (16'). The game was briefly interrupted when paper was thrown onto the pitch, but Bordeaux picked up when things resumed, and they carved out their first chance when Sékou Mara powered a header straight into the gloves of Poussin's opposite number Matthieu Dreyer (41'). Hwang Ui-jo then found the outside side-netting on Lorient's goal (43') and it was goalless at the break.

Bordeaux banished

Neither side made any changes at the break and Moffi should have done better when the ball fell to him on the Bordeaux box soon after the restart (46'). Fransérgio then fell in the Lorient box having got to a through-ball ahead of Dreyer, but what looked like a stone-wall penalty wasn't given with the Brazilian midfielder having been offside (52'). In a back-and-forth period, Moffi then forced a fine save from Poussin (59') as the deadlock remained intact. Hwang had a gilt-edged chance to break it when Enock Kwateng found him unmarked on the penalty spot, but his diving header sailed wide (68'). The South Korean fired wide again when one-on-one with Dreyer soon after (76'). Dreyer had to be on his toes to stop Gideon Mensah's cross-turned-shot from dipping in (78'). Mensah was then sent off for a foul on Laurienté (86') and it ended 0-0.

THE PLAYER: Hwang Ui-jo

South Korea striker Hwang has had a fine season against the odds in 2021/22, and was unfortunate not to add to his 11 Ligue 1 Uber Eats goals here. With his two-top-flight assists thrown in, the former Gamba Osaka man has had a direct hand in a goal every 182 minutes he has featured - not a bad for a member of a soon-to-be relegated team - and he will surely find himself playing top-flight football next season. If Bordeaux can keep him, they will be favourites to bounce straight back up.

THE STAT: 30

Bordeaux looks set to play second-tier football for the first time in three decades next term, with a 12-goal swing needed on the final day. The last time they went down, they re-emerged in 1992 with future FIFA World Cup winners Zinedine Zidane, Bixente Lizarazu and Christophe Dugarry in their ranks and took home the fifth of their six Ligue 1 Uber Eats titles four years later, with Sylvain Wiltord winning that season's Golden Boot. For now, it's back to the basics from les Girondins, but they have shown before it is never safe to count them out for long.

AS Saint-Étienne 1-2 Stade de Reims

AS Saint-Étienne - another giant of the French game with a record 10 Ligue 1 Uber eats titles to their name - were sucked into the second automatic relegation place alongside Bordeaux after they were beaten 2-1 at home by Stade de Reims.

Marshall Munetsi opened the scoring for Reims with the first attack of the game but Eliaquim Mangala thumped home an equaliser from Denis Bouanga corner soon after. Moussa Doumbia had the final word, though, leaving ASSE needing to beat FC Metz's final-day result to have any chance of survival.

FC Metz 1-0 Angers SCO

Metz had begun the day three points worse off than les Verts, but they leapfrogged their fellow strugglers into the relegation play-off place with a 1-0 win over Angers SCO at the Stade Saint-Symphorien.

Didier Lamkel Zé got the only goal of the game, although les Grenats' survival hopes remain on a knife-edge: they need to do better against champions Paris Saint-Germain than Saint-Étienne do against FC Nantes on the final day.

Olympique Lyonnais 3-2 FC Nantes

Further up the table, Olympique Lyonnais picked up a morale-boosting 3-2 win over Nantes at the Groupama Stadium.

Simply playing for pride at this stage of the season, Peter Bosz's men prevailed with Moussa Dembélé, Lucas Paqueta and Tetê getting their goals. Tetê also assisted Paqueta's strike, giving him a hand in six goals since his loan arrival from Shakhtar Donetsk.

ESTAC Troyes 1-3 RC Lens

RC Lens ran out 3-1 winners at ESTAC Troyes, meanwhile, keeping their own slim European hopes alive. Recent France international Jonathan Clauss enjoyed a goal and an assist at the Stade de l'Aube as les Sang et Or came from behind to secure the points.

Three points better off than Lyon in seventh, they could pull into fifth on the final day, provided they beat AS Monaco and RC Strasbourg Alsace and OGC Nice slip up against Olympique de Marseille and Reims respectively.