Lyon roar to fourth title

By Chris Burke

The celebrations can begin for Olympique Lyonnais after Claudio Caçapa's goal crowned a 2-1 victory against AC Ajaccio to secure their fourth consecutive Ligue 1 title.

Expectant crowd
Lyon were made to wait by LOSC Lille Métropole's win against Paris Saint-Germain FC last night, but their fans will not have minded one bit as they watched Paul Le Guen's side write their name on the trophy at a packed Stade Gerland. They were pushed all the way by a determined Ajaccio side, though, with Stéphane Porato brilliantly keeping out a penalty from Lyon's Juninho Pernambucano after the half-hour mark.

Caçapa strike
Sidney Govou calmed the hosts' nerves with a fantastic diving header from Eric Abidal's cross on 36 minutes, but although Ajaccio were rocked by the first-half dismissal of Mamadou Seck for handball, they silenced the expectant home crowd when Yohan Demont powered in an equaliser just after the restart. Lyon's numerical advantage none the less began to tell, and it fell to club captain Caçapa to power in the winner with a 64th-minute header - his first goal of the season.

Fourth title
Le Guen's charges join AS Saint-Etienne and Olympique de Marseille as the only French teams ever to string four consecutive league titles together, and they will start next season as many people's favourites to record an unprecedented fifth. Meanwhile, defeat for Ajaccio puts them right back in relegation danger, and they are now just one point above the drop zone.