Only AS Monaco and Stade Brestois have achieved full success after two days of the Ligue 1 championship, winning respectively, Sunday August 20, against Strasbourg and Le Havre. A weekend marked by the new defeats of Lyon, Nantes and Clermont, and concluded by the draw of Lens at home against Rennes.
The Monegasques left no chance to the Strasbourgeois in the furnace of the Principality, Sunday afternoon, by winning 3-0. After twenty minutes of domination, ASM converted their first attempt on target. Striker Takumi Minamino, after recovering the ball high in the feet of Abakar Sylla, pivoted with vivacity then beat Matz Sels with a shot into the side netting.
The Japanese international again distinguished himself a quarter of an hour later by taking over an excellent cross from Caio Henrique, summoned for the first time with the Brazilian selection for the September matches.
Strasbourg did not put Monaco in more difficulty after returning from the locker room and the reds and whites took the opportunity to take off. Wissam Ben Yedder, on receiving a good pass from the Japanese, participated in the offensive festival with a deflected shot by Sylla. The Monegasque captain, placed under judicial control and indicted for rape by the Nice prosecutor’s office ten days ago, scored his third goal in two days.
After this show of force which follows the 4-2 success in Clermont the previous weekend, the Monegasques will move serenely to Nantes on Friday at the start of the 3rd day, and will be able to send a new message to their rivals in the league.
“We are on the right track,” welcomed the new Monaco coach, Adi Hütter. But we have only just finished the second day and distributed only six points. You have to go slowly. »
Victorious last week against Lens (3-2), the Brestois also did it again at the promoted Le Havre thanks again to an excellent Romain Del Castillo, scorer and passer. The left-hander, author of a double against the Sang et Or, first opened the scoring with a very nice curled shot (28th) before offering the second Brest achievement from a corner to Lilian Brassier (56th) just after the Le Havre equalizer signed Daler Kouziaev (52nd). With this 2-1 success, here are the Brestois installed to everyone’s surprise in first place in the standings with Monaco, but with a lower goal difference (2 against 5).
“The players had set themselves the objective of getting six points from the first four games, so we are very satisfied today,” said Brest coach Eric Roy. We knew how to be united in difficult times, and we saw it on the Le Havre equalizer. »
The affairs of Lens, unable to beat Rennes in the evening at Bollaert (1-1), are not getting better, however. After their failure in Brest, the Northerners did not know how to raise their heads and will approach the shock in Paris, on August 26, with a little pressure.
Lens will undoubtedly show off its new striker, international hopeful Elye Wahi (20), who was presented to the public before kick-off, at the Parc des Princes. Bought 35 million euros in Montpellier, club record, he will be responsible for making people forget Loïs Openda, who left for Leipzig.
In the meantime, it was again left-back Deiver Machado who scored, as in Brest, with a nice volley from outside the area after a corner, from the third minute, making explode Bollaert. Driven by their boiling public, Franck Haise’s players then largely dominated the first twenty minutes, winning a number of duels. But then they eased off and the game fell into a false rhythm.
Racing was then surprised by a flash from its two former players: Arnaud Kalimuendo and Benjamin Bourigeaud. The first recovered the ball at the feet of Salis Abdul Samed, who then mowed it down in the Lens area, before the second calmly transformed the penalty (53rd).
Lens revolted on the hour mark and obtained several clear chances, most concluded by the inevitable Andy Diouf, who arrived in Artois this summer. But the young midfielder (20 years old) missed precision twice, then one of his attempts hit the crossbar.
The Blood and Gold even came close to being punished a second time, but their new captain Brice Samba was the author of two saving parades, giving this draw a fairer character.
Held in check in Nice (1-1) during the opening of the L1, Lille for its part recovered well by dominating FC Nantes already in the hard with two defeats in two games. Beaten 2-0 and reduced to ten at the end of the game after the exclusion of Alexsandro (78th), the Canaries, saved in extremis last season, are 16th and perhaps left for a difficult exercise. This setback risks in any case to weaken a little more the position of coach Pierre Aristouy, appointed four days before the end of the previous championship and already threatened.
Nice is treading water after being joined in the last minutes in Lorient (1-1) while Reims opened its counter against Clermont (2-0) which chained a second loss in a row.
On Saturday, Olympique Lyonnais had been torpedoed at home by Montpellier (4-1) by also conceding their second defeat in a row, and PSG had been held in check in Toulouse (1-1). Friday, Olympique de Marseille had snatched the draw in Metz (2-2).
