Monaco dominates Troyes and replaces
Monaco is progressing slowly but surely. In the fight for European places, the princely club obtained a precious success against Troyes (2-1), this Sunday, as part of the 31st round of Ligue 1. Thanks to two fine goals from Caio Henrique (19th) and Kevin Volland (57th), against an achievement by Iké Ugbo (39th), the formation of the Principality strengthens its 6th place and puts pressure on its competitors in the TOP 5. For his part, the promoted remains 15th and at the mercy of the teams struggling to maintain.
Ugbo responds to Caio Henrique
Monaco took the match by the right end and forced Erik Palmer-Brown to carry out numerous authoritarian interventions to repel the danger (9th, 16th). A good introduction from the American defender, who could not do anything on the free kick from Caio Henrique. At 25 meters, the left side took advantage of poor anticipation from Jessy Moulin to open the scoring with a nice shot wrapped under the bar (1-0, 19th).
Very little jostled so far, the Monegasques could not achieve the break, the fault of a technical imprecision in the last quarter of the field. A boon for visitors, who gradually pointed the tip of their noses… until they found the fault. Back to goal, Iké Ugbo made a superb sequence at the entrance to the surface to equalize with a heavy shot at mid-height using the post (1-1, 39th).
Volland goalscorer after 49 seconds
In bad shape after this Trojan achievement, the ASM was looking for its second wind. And the solution came from the bench. After just 49 seconds on the pitch, Kevin Volland lit up Louis II with a sumptuous sequence to shoot Jessy Moulin at close range (2-1, 57th). An almost unexpected achievement for Monaco, in a very bad period and close to being had by Iké Ugbo on a recovery at the far post after a good job by Xavier Chavalerin (69th).
In the last quarter of an hour, ESTAC did not really believe in their chances of coming back and clearly did not press the accelerator to try to recover a point from this trip. A disappointing management of the Aube training which would certainly have deserved a better result. For Monaco, this fourth success in five league games will do a lot of good in the race for European places.