THE CANADIAN PRESS
MONTREAL — Fernando Cavenaghi and substitute Fernando Menegazzo scored as Ligue-1 champion Bordeaux won its second consecutive Champions Trophy with a 2-0 victory over Guingamp on Saturday in the first official French league match ever played outside France.
A crowd of 34,068 — many cheering for the underdog Guingamp — turned out to the domed, 55,000-seat Olympic Stadium for the annual match between the league champions and the French Cup winners.
It was a record crowd for the event, besting the 30,529 who watched Lyon defeat Paris Saint-Germain in 2006.
They saw the six-time French league champions dominate most of the play against humble Guingamp, a Ligue-2 side that upset three top-tier clubs en route to claiming the French Cup in May.
Guingamp’s defence held until the 38th minute when Marc Planus deked past a defender and pushed the ball to Benoit Tremoulinas. He slipped it to Cavenaghi in front, where the Argentine striker had plenty of time to blast a low shot past goalkeeper Stephane Trevisan.
Seven minutes later, Brazilian midfielder Wendel sent Yoann Gourcuff in alone, but the French international could not control a ball bouncing high on the synthetic turf.
Gourcuff and Wendel produced a handful of promising chances in an otherwise uneventful match.
In injury time at the end of the match, Gourcuff earned a free kick when he was taken down just outside the box by Fabrice Colleau. He put the kick off the far post, but Menegazzo, who entered the match in the 64th minute, was there to knock in the rebound.
Guingamp had a chance on a free kick in the first half from Thibault Giresse — the son of former Bordeaux great Alain Giresse — whose left-footed effort had goalkeeper Cedric Carrasso scrambling.
And in the 75th minute, Carrasso had to punch away a high free kick from substitute Herve Bazile.
Bordeaux lost the 1999 Champions Trophy to FC Nantes, but won it last year over powerhouse Lyon.
Bordeaux ended Lyon’s seven-year domination of French soccer by winning three titles — the Ligue-1 championship, the League Cup and the Champions Trophy.
The only title to escape their grasp was the French Cup, which was taken by Guingamp. The club from a Brittany town of only 7,800 upset three Ligue-1 clubs en route to winning its first Cup, defeating Rennes before 80,000 fans at Stade de France in Paris.
It was only the second time the Cup was won by a second division club.
The Champions Trophy, or Cup of Cups as such matches are called in some other countries, was first held in 1995.
It marks an unofficial start to the 2009-2010 campaign. The regular season begins Aug. 7 for Guingamp and a day later for Bordeaux, which will stay on to play a friendly match against the Montreal Impact on Tuesday.
Tickets for the match ranged from $18 to $43.