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Ligue 1 Uber Eats 14 May 2023, 21:02

AS Monaco draw against Lille to confirm fourth place

AS Monaco draw against Lille to confirm fourth place
After 90 balanced minutes and thanks to a great night from Alexander Nübel, the Rouge et Blanc picked up a good point against Lille (0-0), allowing them to maintain a five-point lead over the northern club.

It’s a point well-earned! In an uneven match punctuated by many fouls, AS Monaco and Lille shared the spoils in a scoreless draw at the Stade Louis-II on Sunday afternoon. Although opportunities were rare on both sides, it took a very good Alexander Nübel in the second half to seal the result, allowing the Principality club to consolidate fourth place with a five-point lead over their opponent.

The context 📅

After beating bottom side Angers (2-1) last weekend, the Rouge et Blanc wanted to continue to bounce back after a pair of defeats. Fourth before taking on LOSC, the AS Monaco players had the opportunity to all but secure this position in the event of a victory since they would take an eight-point lead over their opponent three days before the end of the season.

The next four matches of the season will be finals. We will have to approach this match with determination and motivation. We trained well this week and I saw a lot of desire among the players to play this match. We have at least some cushion in the standings, unlike Lille, but we want to win, that much is clear.
Philippe ClementManager, AS Monaco

The eleven👥

Looking for a second win in a row, Philippe Clement decided to once again play a 3-4-2-1 with the only change being Ismail Jakobs coming in as the left-sided wingback. Axel Disasi, Chrislain Matsima and Caio Henrique once again made up the back three, with Aleksandr Golovin, Takumi Minamino and Myron Boadu leading the attack.

The scenario 🎞

In a raucous Stade Louis-II in the presence of former player Ricardo Carvalho, the start of the match was closely-fought. The two teams probably did not want to relive the scenario of the reverse fixture, when a total of seven goals were scored in a 4-3 win for Lille). Only a header from Jonathan David captured by Alexander Nübel (11′) and an umet cross by Takumi Minamino (16′) in the first 20 minutes would have give the supporters present something about which to be excited.

Boadu is very close to opening the scoring

The match was very balanced and on a quick attack, Philippe Clement’s men are very close to opening the scoring. On a nice deep pass from Youssouf Fofana, Myron Boadu had a one-on-one against Lucas Chevalier but the Dutch striker lost out (32′). Lille’s response was timid; a few minutes later Angel Gomes’ shot from the right was off-target (40′).

Nübel puts on a show

The second half resumed at a similar pace, and it was on the hour mark that the game came alive. It then took a great Alexander Nübel to prevent the opponents’ opening the scoring. He first made a superb refelx save with his foot to keep out Timothy Weah (64′) before a fine tackle off the feet of Jonathan Bamba (68′) before keeping out a powerful attempt by the Ivorian striker (69′).

Minamino is inches from being the game’s hero

If these 10 minutes were challenging, the Rouge et Blanc then put their foot on the ball and even believed that the deadlock could be broken by Takumi Minamino. But his goal was logically refused for offside. Shortly thereafter, Philippe Clement made two changes in bringing on Breel Embolo and Maghnes Akliouche. Back from injury, the Swiss striker was a focal point at the forefront of the attack and suffered a large number of fouls (3).

A good point in view of maintaining fourth place

None of these free kicks unfortunately amounted to anything and the two teams left without a goal after 90 balanced minutes. This point is, however, a good one for the players of AS Monaco, who stay fourth, and stay five points ahead of LOSC, three rounds before the end of the league season. The team’s next match is this Friday (8:45 p.m.) at the Groupama Stadium in Lyon, as part of the 36th matchday in Ligue 1.

Key moments 🎥

11′: David’s header from a corner is gathered by Nübel
16′: Minamino crosses the ball but it finds no one
32′: Boadu comes up short in a one-on-one against Chevalier
40′: Angel Gomes’ shot misses finding the top corner
64′: Nübel’s kick save denies Weah
68′: Good play off his line from Nübel sees him take the ball off the feet of Bamba
69: Superb stop by Nübel against Bamba
73′: A goal is denied to Minamino for a offside

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Match details

Sunday May 14 – Stade Louis-II

Ligue 1 – Matchday 35: AS Monaco 0-0 Lille OSC

Halftime: 0-0

Bookings: A. Gomes (71′), Diakité (90+3′) for Lille

AS Monaco: Nübel – Disasi ©, Matsima, C.Henrique – Vanderson, Fofana, Matazo, Jakobs – Minamino (Akliouche, 73′), Golovin (Embolo, 73′) – Boadu (Ben Seghir, 59′)

Substitutes: Didillon, Aguilar, Okou, Akliouche, Coulibaly, Diop, Magassa, Ben Seghir, Embolo

Manager: Philippe Clement

Lille: Chevalier – Diakité, Fonte ©, Alexsandro, Ismaily – André, A.Gomes (A. Gomes, 77′) – Weah (Ounas, 65′), Cabella, Bamba, David (Virginius, 85′)

Substitutes: Costil, Gudmundsson, Yoro, Baleba, A.Gomes, Jakubech, Martin, Ounas, Bayo, Virginius

Manager: Paulo Fonseca

Rise. Risk. Repeat.