After the draw between Brest and Lille (1-1), Monaco had the opportunity to take the place of runner-up. The Monegasques were going to spend the international break just behind PSG but at the very end of the match, Tiémoué Bakayoko, the former member of the house, equalized with a lobbed header (90th + 5, 2-2).
The Monegasques had already started badly by conceding the opener in the 33rd second. On a missile from Mohamed Bamba, the ball returned to Wilfried Singo, who despite himself pushed the ball into his own net (0-1, 1st). Formosa Mendy’s counter-camp was much more avoidable. The defender communicated poorly with Yvon Mvogo and, by wanting to give him the ball, deceived his goalkeeper (1-1, 27th). Logically returning to the score, ASM unleashed itself after the break. Mvogo won ahead of Wissam Ben Yedder (48th) but was unable to do anything on Youssouf Fofana’s point-blank header, ideally served by Alexander Golovine (2-1, 61st).
A second yellow card addressed to Denis Zakaria (80th) reshuffled the cards and Lorient pushed and managed to snatch a draw. Bakayoko, French champion with Monaco in 2017, thus deprived the Monegasques of second place and offers his team an important point in the fight for maintenance.
Clermont returns to success
It had been two months since it last happened: Clermont won a Ligue 1 match. At the end of a lively match, marked by two red cards and an argument between teammates on each side, the Auvergne people finally found the taste of the victory against Le Havre (2-1), the first for the Bichard – Gastien tandem.
Muhammed Cham quickly set the tone, opening the scoring with a powerful cross strike (1-0, 12th). But while his teammates were well in the match, Elbasan Rashani handicapped them, being excluded with two yellow cards in a few seconds for protest (29th). At ten for an hour, the Clermontois did much more than just make up the numbers. Cham, from the penalty spot, responded in a few seconds to André Ayew’s equalizer, author of a nice solo breakthrough (2-1, 45th+2).
Clermont even thought they would make the break but Alan Virginius (65th) then Chrislain Matsima (82nd) both saw their goals logically refused. In the meantime, Mohamed Bayo insulted his partner Christopher Operi for a mistake. A scene reminiscent of the first half, where Virginius and Cham argued to take the penalty. After yet another verbal clash between the two teams, Clermont finally validated its success, which puts it back in the race to maintain its position. CF64 remains six points behind Lorient, seven behind its opponent of the day, 13th.
Reims pushes Metz
After its convincing draw in Paris (2-2), Reims proved that it was doing better by getting the better of Metz (2-1). The Champenois got off to a perfect start thanks to a calm sequence from Oumar Diakité (1-0, 2nd). But a solid Metz got back on track when Artur Atta finished off a nice cross from Kévin Van den Kerkhof (1-1, 14th).
Not resigned, Reims put his foot on the ball to move forward. Will Still fumed when a penalty for a handball was forgotten (57th) but exulted over Yehvann Diouf’s save in front of Georges Mikautadze (65th). After another save from Alexandre Oukidja, Junya Ito finally found the fault, with a nice sequence which found the top corner (2-1, 70th). A heartbreak for Metz, which remains 17th, three points behind Lorient.
