in Reims, Monaco concedes a draw and misses the opportunity to overtake Marseille

Reims – Monaco

0 – 0

Held in check in Reims (0-0) on Saturday, Monaco will not regain second place in Marseille and will have to settle for third place at the end of this fifteenth day of Ligue 1, which marks half-time of this season.

The Marseillais' draw earlier in the afternoon against Lille (1-1), in one of the shocks of this championship weekend, opened the way for the Monegasques to regain the place of runner-up to Paris Saint- Germain, for the moment undisputed in the lead.

Satisfactory first part of the season on all counts

But ASM did not seize this opportunity, well contained by a solid Reims block at the Auguste-Delaune stadium.
The principality's players, however, return to the level of the Marseille club, with thirty points, but a less good goal difference, and conclude a satisfactory first part of the season on all counts, with a sixteenth place occupied in the Champions League, synonymous with dams.

In Reims, Monaco was at least able to recover from the slap received against Arsenal (3-0) in London, Wednesday on the European scene.

But Adi Hütter's players, who had for the occasion renewed a three-way defense which was very rare this season, never got the better of this match which was ultimately quite poor technically, despite opportunities on both sides, often coming up against the Reims eleven, who did not hesitate to come together in front of his surface when the Monegasques appeared threatening.

Agbadou made his law

It was even the Rémois who had the two biggest chances of the match: a miss from the Marshall Munetsi-Keito Nakamura duo, when the first sent a cross halfway up and too deep to the second, who should have attempted a header rather than a difficult recovery with the left foot (37^e), to conclude a two against one offered by a loss of ball from Wilfried Singo.

In the second period, Oumar Diakité found the crossbar of an uncontrolled recovery after a good cross from Junya Ito (51^e).

Opposite, Monaco had several situations, without ever experiencing a period of major domination during the meeting, by Eliesse Ben Seghir (21^e), generally too discreet, and Takumi Minamino (31^e77^e90^e+2), active but clumsy.

Not enough to deceive a defense led like a boss by Emmanuel Agbadou, author of sharp interventions throughout the game (28^e55^e).

In attack, the Marne club lacked precision and undoubtedly the conviction that they could win on Saturday evening. At the intermission of this 2024-2025 financial year, Reims is the average team par excellence: tenth (20 points) with five victories, as many draws and defeats.

Their evening opponent, Monaco, remains warm at the top before the Coupe de France and the winter break, but has not done enough to hope for better than a share of points.