The last time Bordeaux were top of Ligue 1, it was August 2002: at the time, Darius was No1 in the charts, Liverpool had spent £5m on Salif Diao, and David Bellion was a teenager at Sunderland spoken of as a future France international. As Bellion, and indeed Darius and Diao might now realise, you never quite know how things will work out - but this was the week that Bellion emerged to give notice that Bordeaux can push Lyon all the way for the title.
As Bordeaux played the night before everyone else, their time at the top may have lasted only 24 hours, and the team they beat 4-0, Le Havre, may have a one-way ticket back to Ligue 2, but it was an impressive performance and one that left opposition coach Jean-Marc Nobilo admitting: "From what I've seen, Bordeaux are the best side in France. They're stronger than Lyon or Marseille."
Not that Lyon coach Claude Puel seemed bothered. "I didn't even know we had lost our place as leaders, the table only makes sense when all the teams have played the same amount of games," he sniffed after Lyon beat bottom club Sochaux 2-0 for their first win in four to restore a three-point lead. "The fact that we were top is important for our confidence and also for the way other teams will now look at us," responded Bellion, Bordeaux's man of the match with two goals. "It's a way of marking our territory."
Bellion was rested for last weekend's controversial 2-2 draw with his former club Nice, and this was his first brace since last November. He had led the scoring charts with 10 goals in January, but only scored one more in the second half of the season. More than most French players, he deserves success, given what he's been through: after his first training session with Sunderland in 2001, when he was 18, he found out his unofficial stepfather, "the man who had brought me up for the last 15 years", had hung himself; in his last training session before moving to Manchester United in January 2003, "an assistant coach crushed my foot - not on purpose - but I went to Old Trafford on crutches". Then, in May 2005, he broke his right leg playing for the reserves, and was loaned out to West Ham, where he also turned up on crutches.
After six months he moved to Nice and was happy there until outspoken coach Frédéric Antonetti criticised Bellion's religious beliefs live on TV. "I couldn't accept that. I'm a Christian and for me, religion is an intimate and family thing. I can be moody at times but I'm not a bad guy at heart. I forgave him but I don't forget," Bellion told L'Equipe after he had been signed by his former United team-mate Laurent Blanc.
He could become a key player in Bordeaux's challenge, especially if Fernando Cavenaghi continues to miss as many chances as he did against Le Havre (there were at least four in the first half). But even now his place is not secure: Blanc made six changes from the Nice game and will continue to rotate the squad. "There are 25 guys who all want to play but I can only pick 11. I know that because I called the league and asked to start games with 22 players and they said it wasn't possible," said Blanc. "So I have 13 guys who won't be happy every weekend but they may be the ones to get us through the difficult times so you must never forget them."
There was more rotation at Lyon, where Anthony Mounier, 21, and debutant Lamine Gassama, 19, started against Sochaux. Lyon needed over an hour until Karim Benzema's cracker broke the deadlock, and were hanging on until Sochaux's Stephane Dalmat was dismissed. Sub Cesar Delgado doubled Lyon's lead and there was still time for Sochaux to have another player, Damien Perquis, sent off. "Dalmat tackled the man from the side, not behind, but the referee sent him off anyway," moaned Sochaux boss Francis Gillot, "while Perquis's red card came mainly from Jérémy Toulalan who was like a second referee on the field. He asked the ref to send him off, and that's what happened." You can see the Respect campaign has not reached France quite yet.
Hatem Ben Arfa won back a starting place for Marseille but was fairly quiet in their 1-1 draw at Nantes. L'OM goalkeeper Steve Mandanda had complained of a thigh injury but could do nothing to stop Rémi Maréval's 40-yard screamer to put Nantes ahead. It's probably a good thing he doesn't score too often: he had to have his wrist bandaged after an acrobatic goal celebration went wrong and he is due for a scan on Thursday. Bakary Koné levelled with 12 minutes left to leave L'OM four points behind Lyon.
PSG undid all their excellent work in the weekend win over Marseille by playing terribly in a 1-0 home loss to Toulouse, with Zoumana Camara's own goal, a header that somehow evaded three defenders on the line, separating the sides. "We made some terrible mistakes and after we let the goal in, we fell apart," said coach Paul Le Guen. "It's going to be a difficult season but we'll get through it if we keep fighting."
Even that might not be enough to save Saint-Etienne boss Laurent Roussey, who was livid after losing 4-1 at home to Lorient. "We're going through a storm, and we've taken a big knock on the head," he said. "We now have to show real character." The Sainté fans booed their own players during their third straight loss and things could get worse as they travel to Marseille at the weekend. Roussey needs his players to convert their Uefa Cup form to domestic action.
Elsewhere, Monaco beat struggling Nancy 3-1 and injury-hit Auxerre won 2-0 at high-flying Le Mans. Nice's Loïc Rémy scored another late penalty to earn a 1-1 draw at Caen.
Results: Bordeaux 4-0 Le Havre, Sochaux 0-2 Lyon, Nantes 1-1 Marseille, Le Mans 0-2 Auxerre, PSG 0-1 Toulouse, Grenoble 0-0 Lille, Valenciennes 0-0 Rennes, Caen 1-1 Nice, Monaco 3-1 Nancy, Saint-Etienne 1-4 Lorient
