PARIS (AP) — Veteran forward Olivier Giroud is reveling in life back in Ligue 1.
The 38-year-old Frenchman scored again on Sunday — and missed a penalty — as Lille snatched a 1-0 win over Monaco.
The match appeared to be heading for a goalless draw when Giroud turned in a low cross from Matias Fernandez-Pardo in stoppage time.
Giroud could have doubled his tally in the ninth minute of stoppage time but sent a penalty over the crossbar after Fernandez-Pardo had been fouled by Monaco defender Christian Mawissa Elebi.
Giroud, who joined Lille after a disappointing spell with Los Angeles FC, took only 11 minutes to score on his return to Ligue 1 in a 3-3 draw at Brest last week.
He previously made his name with AC Milan, Chelsea and Arsenal — the club he joined from Montpellier after winning the French title in 2012 and scoring 21 league goals that season.
Giroud is France’s all-time leading men’s scorer with 57 goals and won the 2018 World Cup with Les Bleus.
Rennes sees red again
Rennes would like to finish a match with all 11 of its players on the field.
After having Abdelhamid Ait Boudlal sent off in the first half of its season-opening win over Marseille last week, Rennes had two players dismissed in the first 11 minutes of a 4-0 loss at Lorient.
Midfielder Mahdi Camara was sent off just five minutes into the first start for his new club after unintentionally kicking Lorient’s Dermane Karim in the chest.
Matters grew worse for Rennes six minutes later as it was reduced to nine men, with defender Christopher Wooh also shown a straight red card for bringing down Aiyegun Tosin when the Lorient forward was clear on goal.
According to Opta, Rennes is the first team to pick up two red cards in just over 10 minutes of a Ligue 1 game since it started collecting those stats in the 1992-93 season.
Rennes nevertheless managed to hold out until first-half stoppage time when Sambou Soumano broke the deadlock. But the floodgates opened after the break, with Tosin, Pablo Pagis and Théo Le Bris scoring.
Positive starts
Toulouse and Strasbourg continued their positive starts to the season with both teams picking up a second straight win without conceding a goal.
Frank Magri scored a second-half double to help Toulouse to a 2-0 win over Brest, and Emanuel Emegha’s late goal fired Strasbourg to a 1-0 win over Nantes.
Lens won 2-1 at Le Havre.
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The Associated Press
