Super Eagles star caged at the Stade de la Mosson

Les Merlus succumbed to their first defeat of the season as their Nigerian import failed to shine on matchday three of the French top-flight

Nigerian international Terem Moffi fired blanks as Lorient lost 2-1 to Montpellier at the Stade de la Mosson on Sunday afternoon in their third match of the new Ligue 1 season.

Fresh from scoring the winning goal last week in Lorient’s excellent 1-0 victory over title hopefuls Monaco, Moffi was included in the visitor’s starting eleven despite suffering a knock in that encounter.

But the two-cap Super Eagles star was a shadow of himself as he barely had a sniff of goal for over an hour with Montpellier’s centre-back duo of Mamadou Sakho and Matheus Thuler keeping him in check.

By the time head coach Christophe Pellisier replaced the 22-year-old with Thomas Monconduit in the 62nd minute, Lorient were trailing the home side.

A Dimitri Bertaud own goal had given Les Merlus a first-half lead, but a couple of fine efforts from Teni Savanier and Stephy Mavdidi shortly after the break turned the tie in Montpellier’s favour.

Andy Delort added a third for the hosts in the 83rd minute before the afternoon got worse for Lorient with the sending off of Houboulang Mendes four minutes later. 

Referee Bastein Dechepy then showed substitute Jerome Hergault two yellow cards in the last four minutes to compound the visitors’ woes.