PARIS — France striker Alexandre Lacazette scored a hat trick for Lyon on Sunday as newly-promoted Nancy had a tough start to its Ligue 1 campaign with a 3-0 defeat at home.
Lacazette struck first from close range in the 33rd minute at Stade Marcel Picot after keeper Guy-Roland Ndy Assembe couldn’t hold Sergi Darder’s shot.
Vincent Muratori failed to clear the ball a minute before halftime and Lacazette quickly took advantage to make it 2-0 to Lyon, which was runner-up last season in Ligue 1.
Nancy striker Christophe Mandanne thought he had made it 2-1 before Lacazette grabbed his third with the final kick of the game against last season’s Ligue 2 champion.
Nice beat Rennes 1-0 with a goal on the hour by 17-year-old Malang Sarr but most attention was on tributes to victims — exactly a month after a truck attack in Nice killed 85 people on Bastille Day.
There was a minute’s silence before kickoff with both teams wearing shirts remembering the victims, whose names were read out at the start.
On Saturday, Bordeaux, which hired coach Jocelyn Gourvennec in the off-season, won its opener with a 3-2 defeat of Saint-Etienne.
Paris Saint-Germain started its bid for a fifth consecutive title with a 1-0 win at Bastia on Friday.
