Lyon Fc

LYON THRASH LE MANS

Lyon  brought the curtain down on another glorious season by smashing hapless Le Mans for eight on Saturday night.

Gerard Houllier's men, who wrapped up a fifth successive Ligue 1 crown several weeks ago, were at their imperious best, especially in the first half when they fired in five goals.

Fred equalised Grafite's shock opener before Cris, Sylvain Wiltord, Fred again and Juninho all got on the scoresheet before the break.

Fred completed his hat-trick with 13 minutes to go and there was still time for Sidney Govou and Tiago to add further goals.

Le Mans stunned the Stade Gerland crowd by taking the lead in the 15th minute, Grafite capitalising on some poor defending before lobbing neatly over Gregory Coupet.

Lyon were quickly back on level terms with Fred firing past Yohann Pele following fine work from Mahamadou Diarra.

Cris swiftly made it 2-1 on the counter before Wiltord doubled the advantage from a tight angle.

Brazil striker Fred netted his second of the night five minutes before half-time after taking Claudio Cacapa's pass and firing past Rodolphe Roche, a 30th-minute replacement for Pele.

Juninho Pernambucano netted the 29th free-kick of his Lyon career to make it 5-1 shortly before the break.

The onslaught continued after the restart.

Fred made it 6-1 with a remarkable 40-yard lob with 13 minutes to go before Govou and Tiago completed the rout.

Les Gones finish the season with 84 points, the most-ever accumulated by a team in Ligue 1.