Lyon kick-off with a win

Lyon started off the defence of their French title with a 1-0 victory away at Nice on Friday night.

The Ligue 1 champions kicked-off the new French season with a trip down to the Cote D'Azur on Friday night, and started in the perfect way.

L'OL have lost a whole host of their key players during the summer, but they are once again at the top of the table at the earliest stage.

One star who has stayed to defend the title is Brazilian striker Giovane Elber, and he proved to be the difference between the two sides.

The former Bayern Munich man struck in the 77th minute and his goal gave Paul Le Guen's men the three points.

Lyon fans will be hoping that their opening-day win is a sign of things to come and an away win at Nice is a creditable start to the campaign.

"Nice created some great opportunities during the second half but we managed to hold on until the final whistle," said Le Guen.

"I'm really satisfied to take three points from our first away game.

"Nice are a side hard to beat and winning here means something. It's the best possible start even if we will have to improve in the coming weeks.

"We failed to get control of the match and we will have to work in this regard."