Lorient vs. Brest Trend Finder

Del Castillo scores late goal as Brest moves back into second place in French league

Sun, Mar 31, 2024
Soccer News (AP)

PARIS (AP) - Forward Romain Del Castillo scored a late goal Sunday as Brest moved back into second place in the French league standings and stayed on course for a Champions League spot with a 1-0 win at Lorient.

Brest, the surprise package of the French season, was battered for long spells and relied on goalkeeper Marco Bizot to stay in the game.

Del Castillo bagged the winner with five minutes left with a left-footed shot into the bottom left corner from Kamory Doumbia's assist. It was his sixth goal of the season.

Bizot made a final decisive save in the 90th minute to deny Darlin Yongwa's header from close range.

Brest finished the match with 10 men following midfielder Billal Brahimi's straight red card in added time for a dangerous tackle from behind.

The result moved Brest back into second place, one point above Monaco, which had leapfrogged the Brittany side with a 5-2 thrashing of Metz on Saturday.

Paris Saint-Germain has a nine-point lead over Brest before facing bitter rival Marseille later Sunday in French soccer's biggest game.

KOMBOUARE'S WINNING RETURN

Nantes coach Antoine Kombouare saw his team win 2-1 at Nice in his first match back in charge.

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Kombouare returned to Nantes earlier this month with the mission of avoiding relegation.

His first outing was a success as Nantes moved five points clear of the relegation zone. Matthis Abline ended a six-month scoring drought to put Nantes in the lead and Mostafa Mohamed scored the winner from the spot following Terem Moffi's equalizer.

Kombouare also had coaching stints with several other French clubs, including Paris Saint-Germain between 2009-11. Kombouare was fired by PSG in December 2011 - following the takeover by the team's Qatari owners earlier that year - and was replaced by Carlo Ancelotti.

Montpellier also claimed a crucial win in the battle against relegation, winning 2-0 at 15th-place Le Havre with goals from Jordan Ferri and Christopher Jullien. Montpellier was in 13th place, one point above Nantes. Clermont lost 3-0 to Toulouse and remained in last place.

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