Soccer. Ligue 1: Monaco dismisses Lyon
Monaco, who beat Lyon (2-1) in the snatch and on two set pieces on Sunday evening, at the Stade Louis-II, at the end of the 7th day of L1, came back to within two points of their evening opponent and chained a third consecutive success. Three consecutive victories in all competitions: after having taken a nosedive, following their elimination by PSV Eindhoven in the preliminary round of the Champions League at the beginning of August and after having played three home games in numerical inferiority, Monaco are back in force, in the 7th place of L1, with 11 points. And once again, after Strasbourg and Nice, Monaco won in L1 without a titular Wissam Ben Yedder.
Before the meeting, Philippe Clément, his Belgian coach, had asked his players to finally finish a home game at eleven, which they had not done against Rennes (1-1), Lens (4-1 defeat) and Troyes (4-2 defeat).
This numerical equality served them in the last half hour, as Lyon and their offensive armada pushed hard. But Alexandre Lacazette and his team were too imprecise to equalise. Even if a very nice volley from Karl Toko Ekambi had put the Rhodaniens back in the saddle (2-1, 81st), Moussa Dembélé in force (90th) and Lacazette with a header above (90th + 2) missed the equalizer.
Imprecise lacazette
And Lyon, which lost to Lorient on Wednesday (3-1), chained a second consecutive defeat and, with 13 points, saw its competitors on the podium (Lens, 17 points, Marseille and Paris SG 19 points) moving away.
As usual since their draw in Paris (1-1), the Monegasques evolved into a 3-4-3, with a Badiashile-Maripan-Disasi defense in one-on-one against the trident Tété-Lacazette-Toko Ekambi . After a quarter of an hour of getting started, Philippe Clément’s men, like Embolo, began to impose their physical power. On the center of Aleksandr Golovin, deflected by Castello Lukeba, Krepin Diatta took over on the right post of Anthony Lopes, beaten (15th). In the aftermath, Embolo, left alone by Thiago Mendes, missed a great opportunity just like his stung header (16th).
Lyon, mistreated, made the round back, before leaving timidly. The good work between Lacazette and Maxence Caqueret ended with a shot from the first, easily captured by Alexander Nübel (21st). Party against his camp and author of a good one-two with Toko Ekambi, Tété himself struck above (31st), then aside after a good shift from Lacazette (43rd). The Lyon captain, for his part, tried a pivotal attempt: off target (35th).
Caio Henrique, twice
Although Lyon hit more often and held the ball longer than their opponents, it was the Monegasques who offered themselves the best chances in the first half. Like this last recovery in a distant but violent and sudden half-volley by Golovin just after the clearance of Nübel. Lopes was very vigilant (44th).
If the start of the second period was dominated by the Gones, the latter were unable to deceive Nübel, excellent in front of Lacazette (53rd) and his defense, united, still ahead of Lacazette (48th). But Monaco was once again more incisive and opened the scoring from their first corner. The combination and the timing between Caio Henrique, the shooter, and Badiashile, the header receiver, were perfect (1-0, 56th).
From then on, Peter Bosz went into 4-2-4, with Moussa Dembélé leading alongside Lacazette, in place of Caqueret (62nd). But, the next minute, a new combination, on a free kick this time, gave Monaco an essential advantage. Golovin and the same striker, Caio Henrique, played the Lyon line-up with two fakes. Maripan took the lead to score (2-0, 63rd).
What followed was an attack-defense. And in this game, Monaco, united as ever, begins to become intractable.