Football is back! The enforced hiatus was long and taxing, but France's top-flight clubs have shown that they are none the worse for wear as they dusted off the boots for Ligue 1 Uber Eats opening round at the weekend.

Although Champions League duties saw Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique Lyonnais' fixtures postponed to mid-September - as was the case for Olympique de Marseille due to coronavirus concerns - Nîmes were on hand to give fans plenty of what they have been longing for: fluid attacking football and goals, goals, goals!

Meling stuns as Les Crocodiles chow down

 Playing host to Brest, new coach Jérôme Arpinon's Crocodiles proved too much for the Brittany club, Kévin Denkey getting the ball rolling early (8') before newly signed Norwegian defender Birger Meling - who set up Denkey for the opener - burst forward and crashed home from close range (31').

"It's in the club's DNA to defend by pushing forward and putting the opponent under pressure. I am following in the footsteps of Bernard [Blaquart]. Our recruitment was done with this in mind," said Arpinon, a former Crocodile himself, who took the reins from Blaquart over the summer. "It's important to pile on the pressure at the Stade des Costières. The atmosphere can get very intense and opponents aren’t used to that. We quickly suffocated them."

With Romain Philippoteaux (69') and Moussa Koné (84') rounding out the rout, Nîmes raced to the top of the table, but only have goal difference keeping them ahead of FC Lorient, who conjured a remarkable turnaround against on their Ligue 1 Uber Eats return, against Strasbourg.

Grbic on target as Lorient make winning top-flight return

Despite going behind to debutant Mehdi Chahiri's well-taken opener (30'), Christophe Pélissier's men turned it on after the break, with last season's club top scorer Yoane Wissa hitting the mark (51') before new signing Adrian Grbic struck from the spot in a successful club and Ligue 1 Uber Eats debut (60', pen.) and Pierre-Yves Hamel rounded out the scoring (87').

"The top flight! The club had been waiting for this for three years, and some had been waiting for this since they were very small. Now that we're here, we have to bite down on it and not have any regrets. Every weekend, we will have a very difficult opponent," said former Amiens SC boss Pélissier, who engineered Lorient's Ligue 1 Uber Eats return. "What I want is for us to stay ourselves, playing the football that made champions (of Ligue 2) last year. Attacking football that sees us get forward, with enthusiasm, with ambition. Tonight, we were rewarded for that. It's up to us to maintain this dynamic."

Nice work for Gouiri

Patrick Vieira's OGC Nice also had a good first day back at the office, courtesy of 20-year-old new signing Amine Gouiri who, in his first outing since signing from OL, curled in a pair of stunning goals to deny RC Lens on their return to the big time.

Gaël Kakuta opened the scoring as he marked his first senior appearance with Lens - the club he left for Chelsea amid much controversy over a decade ago - with a goal (11', pen.), but France U21 international Gouiri conjured maximum curl from his magical right boot on either side of the break (23,' 75') to sway the day in dominant fashion get Les Aiglons off to the perfect start for the season.

"For my first start in Ligue 1, I wanted to score a first goal. I play on the left, so I knew I could cut inside and try to curl it with my right foot. That's how I scored both goals," said Gouiri, set for a big season after leaving Lyon, whose youth academy he joined as 13-year-old. "I'm getting used to my position on the left wing. I'm getting my bearings in the game and also with Kasper Dolberg, who likes to link up in the middle. It wasn't perfect but we took all three points."

Angers were the weekend's other winners, Stéphane Moulin's men bagging a first away win of the campaign and going fourth thanks to Ismael Traoré's lone strike in mustard land (22'), while Bordeaux and Nantes played out a goalless draw in the season-opening Atlantic derby in Bordeaux on Friday night.

The Jonathans

While all eyes were on new Canadian signing Jonathan David as his LOSC side took on Rennes, it was another Jonathan - of the Bamba variety - who got Les Dogues in front (40') only for Rennes captain Damien Da Silva to level it late (74') and ensure even honours in this high-octane clash that saw Rennes' Sacha Boey (35') and LOSC's Reinildo (44') sent off.

Meanwhile, the weekend had another four-goal match, but the goals came two apiece as defensive tough nuts Reims travelled south to face Niko Kovac's Monaco. Boulaye Dia (5') and El Bilal Touré (21') had David Guion's side comfortably in front but stopper Axel Disasi - freshly signed from Reims - hit back (45') before central defensive partner Benoît Badiashile poked in a fine finish (55') to claim a share of the points.

A superb weekend of football in France, but it's not quite over. The three postponed Round 1 fixtures will be played in roughly three weeks' time.

Montpellier Hérault SC - Olympique Lyonnais: Tuesday 15 September at 21:00
Paris Saint-Germain - FC Metz: Wednesday 16 September at 21:00
Olympique de Marseille - AS Saint-Etienne: Thursday 17 September at 21:00