Lorient stun Montpellier

Lorient celebrate against Montpellier

Lorient struck twice in stoppage time to claim a stunning 2-1 victory over reigning Ligue 1 champions Montpellier.

After being held 1-1 at home by Toulouse in their opening fixture, Montpellier would have been determined to pick up a three-point haul this weekend and they looked set to do just that after taking a 37th-minute lead through Emanuel Herrera.

However, Lorient refused to give in and they stunned their opponents by first snatching a brilliant 90th-minute equaliser through Alain Traore and then claiming the points when Jeremie Aliadiere slotted home two minutes later.

Lorient started their campaign by almost claiming the prized scalp of big-spending Paris St Germain, leading 2-0 at half-time only to be pegged back by a second-half brace from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Christian Gourcuff's side were quickly out of the blocks again tonight.

Aliadiere had an early shot blocked before the former Arsenal striker came within a whisker of breaking the deadlock in the 19th minute when he robbed Cyril Jeunechamp of possession and drilled a shot against the post.

Lorient could not keep that up though and it was Montpellier who took the lead.

John Utaka, having earlier gone close with a volley, did superbly down the left before finding Herrera in the middle and the Argentinian took a touch before beating home goalkeeper Fabien Audard.

Herrera almost doubled the lead on the stroke of half-time after breaking clean through but he was denied by a superb save from Audard.

As in the first half, Lorient started the second on top and Traore fired just wide from long range before Aliadiere saw his shot saved by Geoffrey Jourdren.

Montpellier survived that spell though and they had a chance to finish the game off in the 82nd minute when Remy Cabella worked his way into the area, but Audard was equal to his shot.

That stop turned out to be a crucial one as 10 minutes later Lorient were celebrating a stunning comeback victory.

They drew level as the match entered injury time when Traore dribbled his way past three defenders before firing home from the edge of the box, and the celebrations from that strike had barely died down when Aliadiere turned home the winner from close range.

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