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FRENCH FOOTBALL

Hollande meets football chiefs for tax talks

The French President François Hollande will meet with bosses from France’s leading football clubs for crisis talks on Thursday, after they announced they would go on strike in protest over the implementation of a new 75 percent tax.

Published: 31 October 2013 08:46 CET

Hollande meets football chiefs for tax talks

Hollande will meet with French football chiefs on Thursday to hear their concerns over a 75 percent tax rate. Photo: Patrick Hertzog/AFP

Directors from clubs in France’s Ligue and Ligue 2 will make a last minute bid to persuade Hollande to make an compromise for French football over the new super tax.

The Union of Professional Clubs (UCPF) , which is leading the rebellion insists that the tax, on wages over €1 million, will bring football clubs to their knees. The President of Lyon Jean-Michel Aulas said clubs were being “taken hostage”.

Last week Clubs in Ligue 1 and 2 announced they will refuse to take part in fixtures over the weekend of November 29th to December 1st in what has been described as "historic protest".

The chances of them persuading Hollande to make another climbdown however appear slim. On the eve of the talks his Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said: “In these difficult times, it is normal to call for more solidarity from those who have the most resources.”

Under the proposal, companies will be liable to pay the 75 tax rate for the portion of employees' salaries above €1 million annually and is set to come into force for 2014 and 2015, and therefore applied to earnings for 2013 and 2014.

Jean-Pierre Louvel president of the UCPF said they will not be pushing for a complete withdrawal of the draft law, but will demand that it is not applied to 2013 salaries, as is planned.

Louvel said clubs, concerned that their ability to attract high-earning top players from abroad to play in France will be hit, would open their doors to fans to explain to supporters why they needed to take such drastic measures.

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Shock as PSG finally lose a game in Ligue 1

Heads bowed as PSG finally lose. Photo: AFP

Lyon stunned Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 on Sunday to end the defending champions' hopes of becoming the first French team to
avoid defeat for a whole league season.

Young forward Maxwell Cornet stroked Bruno Genesio's men into a surprise early lead and Lyon deservedly made it two through Sergi Darder's wonderfully-taken goal on the stroke of half-time.

Lucas Moura pulled one back for the runaway league leaders, but Lyon held on for a famous victory that moves them into the top three.

For PSG this was a first league loss since a 3-2 defeat at Bordeaux in March 2015, although they remain 23 points clear of Monaco at the top of the table.

Manager Laurent Blanc admitted that his side were off the pace and did not deserve to take anything from the game.

“We were too average, myself included,” he told Canal+. “Lyon were in a better state of mind. Were we not at our best? I don't know, we must regroup.”

“We expected a difficult game, but not as hard. I took off a player at half-time (Benjamin Stambouli), I could have made more changes,” he admitted.

Lyon manager Genesio wants his team's display to help them kick on for the rest of the campaign.

“The game counts for three points, but of course beating PSG makes it more satisfying,” he said.

“What pleased me? The way we implented the plan, with the will to press them high. Certainly, we were up against one of the best teams in Europe, but we need to repeat this performance until the end of the season.”

PSG were looking to extend their record unbeaten league streak to 37 matches, but Lyon started the stronger at Parc OL and they forged ahead in the 13th minute.

Alexandre Lacazette picked out 19-year-old Cornet, who displayed good footwork to cut inside Gregory van der Wiel, before curling confidently into the far corner to grab his third Ligue 1 goal.

The visitors are not used to being behind and their frustration boiled over when Thiago Motta appeared to strike Jordan Ferri in the face, with the Italian fortunate to escape with just a yellow card.

On the day that Silva spoke of suffering a bout of depression in the aftermath of Brazil's World Cup thrashing at the hands of Germany two years ago, he was embarrassed by Darder in first half injury-time.

Despite Rafael's cross being slightly behind Darder, the Spanish midfielder flicked the ball over the head of centre-back Silva with his first touch, and coolly steered home past Kevin Trapp with his second.

Lucas goal not enough

With the unbeaten run close to coming to an end Blanc responded by sending on Javier Pastore for Benjamin Stambouli at the interval.

The substitute was instrumental in creating space in the Lyon penalty area as the away side pulled one back less than six minutes into the second period.

Pastore was crowded out by a group of home defenders, but the ball broke kindly for Brazilian Lucas, who bent his shot just inside the far post.

Lyon went straight up the other end and could have restored their two-goal cushion, only for Ferri to side-foot wide.

It was by far the busiest outing for Trapp since his move to Paris last summer and the German made an excellent point-blank save with his legs to keep out Rachid Ghezzal.

But last season's runners-up closed out a fourth win in five games with ease to move into the third and final Champions League place and become the first team to beat PSG domestically in almost a year.

Monaco were held to a goalless draw by in-form Nantes as Caen reignited their unlikely Champions League push with a 2-1 win at Saint-Etienne.

Monaco are eight points clear in second but the six teams directly below are separated by just two points in the race for third place.

Meanwhile, Marseille's match away to Gazelec Ajaccio was postponed due to the inclement weather in Corsica.

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