Montpellier stumbles at first hurdle in Ligue 1

Rene Girard's hosts lifted its first-ever league title in May but then lost its league top scorer Olivier Giroud to Arsenal pre-season.

Nigerian striker John Utaka sent Souleymane Camara clear for the host in the 34th minute and he clipped home to open the scoring.

But instead of capitalising, Montpellier found itself pegged back 18 minutes from time when Wissam Ben Yedder headed home from a cross by Serge Aurier.

The visitor was left hanging on grimly after it had Adrien Regattin and Serge Aurier sent off.

Montpellier had itself played for almost an hour a man short after Tunisian star Jamel Saihi was red-carded for a foul on Francois Sirieix six minutes before the break.

The southerners also lost its Champions Trophy opener, albeit on penalties, to Lyon - and Girard will be concerned after its failure to get its season off to a flier.

Big spender Paris Saint-Germain will fully expect to see off a Lorient which only just stayed up, in its opener on Saturday.

Even so, Montpellier may take comfort from the fact that Lorient has regularly upset PSG - including in Paris - in recent years.

Under experienced former Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti, PSG is widely expected to go one better than runner-up this time round as well as punch its weight in the UEFA Champions League.

After a decade on the European sidelines, expectations have risen given the pot of money its Qatari benefactors have made available to the capital club.

In other action, 2011 champion Lille travels to former giant Saint Etienne while Lyon is in action at Rennes.

On Sunday (Monday AEST), 1950's giant Reims, back in the top flight after 33 years, host a Marseille side who has lost coach Didier Deschamps to the France job and who has turned to Elie Baup, in recent years a TV pundit but also its former coach.