Lyon wins controversial derby against St Etienne

Paris, November 6: Olympique Lyon cemented third place in Ligue 1 with a record 5-0 win at 10-man St Etienne.

In a tie marred by clashes, Memphis Depay, Nabil Fekir, with a double, Mariano Diaz and Bertrand Traore all got on the scoresheet.

D12 - @ASSEofficiel vs. @OL_English - Final Whistle pic.twitter.com/dA2lQ7CPpo

— Ligue1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) November 5, 2017

St Etienne played almost half of the game with 10 men after Leo Lacroix was sent off for a dangerous tackle on Fekir two minutes into the second half.

The win put Lyon on 25 points from 12 games, seven adrift of leaders Paris Saint- Germain, who themselves won 5-0 at Angers, and three points off second-placed AS Monaco who went one better by beating visitors En Avant Guingamp 6-0.

Marseille are fourth on 24 points after a 5-0 thrashing of Caen.

It was Lyon's biggest league victory at the Geoffroy Guichard stadium in France's fiercest derby.

The match was interrupted for almost 10 minutes because of flares early in the first half, with Dutch international Depay opening the scoring after 10 minutes with a clinical finish after being set up by Houssem Aouar.

Six minutes later, St Etienne lost key midfielder Romain Hamouma through injury.

In the 25th, Fekir unleashed a fierce left-foot shot past Stephane Ruffier from 20 metres to extend the lead.

Lacroix was shown a straight red card early in the second half for a rough tackle on Fekir ending St Etienne's hopes of making a comeback.

Diaz poked the ball home from close range to put Lyon 3-0 up in the 58th minute before setting up Traore for the fourth as Les Verbs began to fall apart, with Fekir adding a fifth in the closing stages to rub salt into the home side's wounds.

Fekir took off his shirt to show it to the home fans and some of them invaded the pitch in reaction.

Meanwhile, Nice striker Mario Balotelli went from hero to villain in a 1-0 win at home Dijon as he converted a penalty before the break but was sent off a minute from time for a dangerous tackle.

The win took Nice to 15th on 13 points, a point above Dijon.