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PSG win to allay drop fears; Lyon coronation on hold
PARIS (AFP) - Paris St Germain bolstered their chances of avoiding relegation from the French top flight on Saturday with a 3-1 win over Auxerre courtesy of goals from Pedro Pauleta and a brace from Amara Diane while fellow strugglers Lens went down 3-2 at Le Mans.
Skipper Pauleta, now 34 and playing in his fifth and final season at the Parc des Princes, had urged the fans to get behind a team woefully short on confidence despite a League Cup final success and run to the French Cup semi-finals.
And the former Bordeaux man led by example, netting his 200th goal in France in all competitions with a fine strike after seeing his initial third-minute free kick come back off the visiting wall before Diane notched his double.
Jean-Pascal Mignot scored a consolation for Auxerre.
Pauleta's day ended on a sour note, despite his goal, as a harsh booking for taking a quick free kick means he will now miss the May 6 Cup semi-final with Amiens.
PSG now stand level on 38 points with Lens, who have a superior goal difference of just one, and Toulouse, another two goals better off.
With three games left PSG are still biting their nails to the quick, but defender Zoumana Camara insisted mentally the players would fight to save the club from a humiliating denouement.
"We have a foot in the second division - but this win is a relief and we are still alive. We created a lot of chances and that's good for morale before we head to Toulouse," said Camara.
The Lens reversal was just one of four results which went PSG's way Saturday, including their own, as Strasbourg went down 3-0 at Rennes to stand three points adrift of safety and Toulouse lost 3-2 at Lille.
At the top, Lyon still await their seventh straight coronation after requiring a double from Karim Benzema to secure a 2-2 home draw with Caen, though Bordeaux failed to eat into a four-point deficit as Nice held them 0-0.
The champions-elect have been feeling the pressure, however, and in midweek chairman Jean-Michel Aulas threatened to pull Lyon out of the French Cup owing to what they see as an overcrowded fixtures programme.
Lyon suspect the French Federation would like to try to "spare" them a possible final encounter with PSG in order to end the season a week earlier for the table-toppers' international contingent, who otherwise will have just a few days off prior to linking up with Les Bleus for Euro 2008 in June.
Sunday, Marseille will seek to win at Monaco to overhaul Nancy, a point ahead of them prior to their match at Valenciennes, in the battle for third spot and a shot at the Champions League preliminaries.
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