Monaco beat Le Havre to join PSG at the top of Ligue 1

The Principality side backed up their impressive midweek victory in the Champions League against Spanish giants Barcelona by winning their fourth game in five league outings this term and moving up to second in the standings, behind PSG on goal difference.

Strikes in quick succession midway through the second half by Eliesse Ben Seghir and Folarin Balogun ensured Monaco claimed all three points, after Le Havre's Daler Kuzyaev had cancelled out Jordan Teze's early opener. "I'm very pleased with the win, even if it wasn't the best game of the season," said Monaco coach Adi Huetter.

Dutch right-back Teze gave the home side the lead inside 10 minutes when he tucked away Takumi Minamino's cross from two yards out after the ball had ping-ponged around the box. Le Havre then grew into the match and on the half-hour Kuzyaev got the equaliser with a smart finish with the outside of his right foot that crept into the far corner.

Monaco's starting XI was very different from the one that beat Barcelona, and tied 1-1 at the break Huetter rang the changes and sent on Ben Seghir and Denis Zakaria. But it was the away team that looked to have taken the lead early in the second half, only for VAR to rule that Josue Casimir had been in an offside position before he slotted the ball past Philipp Koehn.

Rising star Ben Seghir then did manage to divide the sides with a moment of individual inspiration in the 66th minute. Receiving the ball 25 yards from goal, he advanced on the packed defence before standing up Arouna Sangante and bending the ball beyond the goalkeeper with his right foot. Balogun wrapped up the points four minutes later when he swept home from George Ilenikhena's pass.

Elsewhere, Montpellier emerged victors in a topsy-turvy 3-2 win against Auxerre with four of the goals coming in the space of 10 second-half minutes. Hamed Traore gave Auxerre the lead in the 18th minute, before the floodgates opened just after the hour. Montpellier flipped the game on its head when Akor Adams equalised in the 65th minute and Modibo Sagnan then gave them the lead in the 71st minute.

Ado Onaiwu levelled for Auxerre one minute later, but Adams struck again with 15 minutes remaining to win it for the home side. Brest followed up Thursday's victory on Champions League debut by beating Toulouse 2-0 and Angers drew 1-1 at home to Nantes. Later on Sunday, Lyon host Roberto De Zerbi's resurgent Marseille in the weekend's biggest clash featuring two of France's most bitter rivals.

 

September 19, 2024