PARIS (AP) — Coach Paulo Fonseca watched from the stands and saw his substitutions pay off as Lyon won 2-0 at Nice on Sunday to maintain its push for a Champions League spot.
Fonseca began his nine-month touchline ban in Ligue 1 after aggressively confronting referee Benoît Millot last Sunday. He saw his team struggle in the first half as Nice striker Gaëtan Laborde hit the post in the driving rain.
Lyon punished Nice when midfielder Rayan Cherki scored one minute after coming on. He latched onto a pass from Brazilian midfielder Thiago Almada and finished confidently in the 78th minute.
The 21-year-old Cherki has been linked with a move to a big club since breaking onto the scene as a precocious teenager five years ago, and this was his career-high sixth league goal.
The lively Almada then found Ghana forward Ernest Nuamah with a first-time pass and Nuamah — who came on midway through the second half — expertly curled the ball into the top left corner in the 83rd.
Sixth-placed Lyon is two points behind Lille in fifth and Monaco in fourth. Third-placed Nice is only four points ahead of Lyon with the top four earning a Champions League spot.
Rosenior's first season
Liam Rosenior's first season in charge of Strasbourg is still going along nicely as the Alsace-based club won 1-0 at Nantes to strengthen its grip on seventh place.
The 40-year-old Englishman, whose father enjoyed a career as a bustling striker in the 1980s, played in the Premier League for Fulham, Reading and Hull as a defender.
Rosenior's coaching career started three years ago with a brief stint at English club Derby and he then took charge of Hull. He was among the nominees last season for manager of the year in the second-tier Championship.
Rosenior has turned Strasbourg into a well-organized team which has a strong defense and is dangerous counterattacking down the flanks.
Strasbourg's goal came in the 79th when Félix Lemaréchal turned in a cross from tricky right winger Dilane Bakwa.
Other results
At the bottom, strugglers Le Havre and Saint-Etienne drew 1-1 to stay deep in relegation trouble.
Lucas Stassin opened the scoring in the 10th following a scramble and Abdoulaye Touré equalized for Le Havre in first-half stoppage time.
Midtable Brest won 2-0 at home to Angers.
Forward Abdallah Sima headed home from a corner against his former club, but left the field close to halftime with an adductor muscle injury. He was replaced by Romain Faivre, who scored the second goal.
Reims lost 2-0 at home to Auxerre to stay 15th and one place above Le Havre in the relegation playoff spot. Saint-Etienne is 17th and Montpellier last in the 18-team league.
Auxerre's goals came in the first half from Canada forward Theo Bair and Hamed Traoré with his 10th of season.
All players in this weekend's games have “WO=MAN” written on the back of their jerseys instead of their names as part of the French league’s initiative centered around International Women’s Day.
Runaway leader PSG won 4-1 at Rennes on Saturday and is 16 points clear of Marseille, which conceded a stoppage-time goal in a 1-0 home loss to Lens on Saturday.
PSG hosts Marseille next Sunday at Parc des Princes. ___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Jerome Pugmire, The Associated Press
