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BORDEAUX, France (AP) — Bordeaux's attacking potential and defensive frailties were on display Saturday as Jocelyn Gourvennec's team won its French league opener with a 3-2 defeat of Saint-Etienne.
Bordeaux conceded two goals in a nervy final 10 minutes after opening a 3-0 lead with goals from Gaetan Laborde, Diego Rolan and Malcom.
Bordeaux hired Gourvennec during the offseason and he bolstered the six-time champion's attack by recruiting former France international Jeremy Menez and striker Francois Kamano.
But Gourvennec gave a starting nod to the 22-year-old Laborde, who repaid his coach's faith by heading home the opener for his first goal in the top flight, then assisted Rolan.
Romain Hamouma and Alexander Soderlund scored Saint-Etienne's goals.
"They played the game I expected, with a lot of cohesion," Gourvennec said about his players. "They made some mistakes but we scored three goals. Misson accomplished in front of our fans."
Metz marked its return to the top tier with a 3-2 win over Lille after Mevlut Erding scored a brace to take his tally in the French league to 88. Rony Lopes also scored twice for Lille before Yann Jouffre netted the winner from the penalty spot in the 88th.
Caen recovered from a two-goal deficit to beat Lorient 3-2 after Ivan Santini responded to Benjamin Moukandjo's double by finding the net twice. Also, Ryad Boudebouz gave Montpellier a 1-0 win over Angers and Nantes won 1-0 at Dijon.
Paris Saint-Germain started its bid for a fifth consecutive title with a 1-0 win at Bastia Friday.
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