In barely a quarter of an hour, the matter was over. Thanks to a perfect start to the match, materialized by the three goals scored quickly by Takumi Minamino (4th), Maghnes Akliouche (10th) and Vanderson (16th), AS Monaco easily won on the pitch of FC Metz (5th). -2), Saturday March 30, during the 27th day of Ligue 1. Thanks to this success, the Rocher club now occupies 2nd place in the ranking, but could slip to 3rd in the event of a victory for Brest in Lorient on Sunday.
On the pitch of the Saint-Symphorien stadium, Adi Hütter’s players confirmed their good intentions away from the Principality. Since the beginning of December 2023, they have no longer won at home and remain in the race for qualification for the European Cup thanks to their success away from home. On Saturday, they scored a sixth away victory in seven games. This quickly took shape, thanks to the weakness of Metz’s defense and the realism of the Monegasques.
The Metz reaction lasted five minutes
After the three goals of his teammates, Folarin Balogun, coming off the bench in the second period, increased the score for ASM thanks to his two goals. The first following a huge error by Metz goalkeeper, Alexandre Oukidja, who tried to serve a teammate with an ill-timed backheel in his penalty area (76th). The second by following a corner well at the far post (88th).
“We are in Ligue 2”, sang the audience at the Saint-Symphorien stadium at the very end of the match, to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the performance of their team, which was completely overwhelmed. The Messins’ reaction only lasted five minutes, after the fourth Monegasque goal, thanks to Pape Diallo (79th) and Ibou Sané (84th). Two achievements which change nothing in the situation of the Lorraine club (19th), which is only three points ahead of Clermont, the red lantern in the ranking.
Lyon slowed down by Reims
Three days before its Coupe de France semi-final against Valenciennes (Ligue 2), Olympique Lyonnais, for its part, was held in the evening by Reims on its home field (1-1). Messy in their offensive expression, OL came up against a solid Reims team defensively.
At the break, the Lyonnais, despite a clear domination, had not yet found the target, and it was ultimately the visitors who struck first in the second half. A shot from Valentin Atangana was deflected for a corner and on this one, Yunis Abdelhamid sent a header over the bar, before a point-blank rebound from Joseph Okumu to open the scoring (56e).
Shortly after, Lyonnais Maxence Caqueret failed in front of goalkeeper Yehvann Diouf before Ernest Nuamah managed to equalize by taking a cross delivered from the left wing by Saïd Benraham (65e), two players coming off the bench to move to a three-striker system.
At the end of the game, Reims, through Maxime Busi then Michael Richardson, could have pocketed the bet on two long shots, deflected by Anthony Lopes who preserved the draw, a result which slowed down Lyon’s rise in the ranking towards European places.
With 35 points, the Lyonnais, tenth, nevertheless achieved the objective initially set by their coach Pierre Sage when he took office at the end of November when he succeeded Fabio Grosso, at the heart of the crisis the club was going through.