Football: AS Monaco lost to Olympique Lyonnais 1-3. It became Their first home defeat of the season
A cruel defeat for AS Monaco, who played valiantly for nearly an hour with ten men but were ultimately undone by a Lyon side who took advantage of their numerical superiority.
It was Ghezzal who registered the first shot of the match in the 4th minute, seeing his effort easily blocked by Subasic, the first real chance of the evening fell to AS Monaco. Fekir responded with a free-kick in the 10th minute, but Subasic saved well.
Just after the quarter-hour mark, OL began to take a grip of the game and won a succession of corners that put the Monegasque defense under pressure. After collecting the ball from Valbuena just outside the box, Ghezzal slammed a low left-footed shot past Subasic and into the net. The Red & Whites did not let their heads drop, however, and came close to an equalizer in the 37th minute when Silva was blocked at the last moment after a fine cross from Mendy – who was then unfortunately giving his marching orders after reacting to provocation from Tolisso (39 mins). At the break, AS Monaco went in not just a goal down, but facing the whole second half with ten men…
They began the job well right from the start of the second half. From a free-kick out wide by Lemar, Glik was inches away from steering in the equalizer, but match referee MrBuquet somehow failed to spot a blatant handball by Tousart on the Lyon goal line! As the Red & Whites disputed the decision, OL embarked on a counter-attack and it took a fine stop from Subasic to deny Valbuena (53 mins).
The sense of injustice was tough to take for the Monegasques, and MrBuquet added insult to injury by awarding OL a somewhat generous penalty three minutes later. Lacazette took it, but Subasic went the right way and held the Lyon man’s effort. But the Croatian ‘keeper could do nothing when Valbuena met Ghezzal’s cross on the volley to make it 2-0 to the visitors.
There was now daylight between the two teams, but AS Monaco weren’t giving up. Lemar got away down the right and pulled the ball back for Bakayoko to reduce the deficit, despite Tousart’s attempted block. Hopes rose for the home side, but Falcao was unable to find the target in the 78th minute from the edge of the area.
The Red & Whites had let their chance go begging. At the death, Subasic’s attempted clearance fell for Lacazette to volley home a third for Lyon, condemning AS Monaco to the first home defeat of the season, in a game where nothing fell kindly for Leonardo Jardim’s men despite a creditable performance. They will look to get back to winning ways against Caen on Wednesday.
