Monaco concedes a draw against Lille and sees its first place in the standings threatened by Paris

Monaco, which found itself reduced to ten an hour into the game, was unable to get rid of a very defensive Lille team (0-0), Friday October 18 at the opening of the eighth day of Ligue 1 The Monegasques thus see their first place threatened by Paris Saint-Germain, who will host Strasbourg on Saturday.

If this draw suits Lille, which is temporarily back in fourth place with the same number of points as Marseille and Reims, than Monaco, still leader with twenty points but only three ahead of Paris, Adi Hütter, coach of Monaco , cannot blame the lack of commitment of his men. Playing ten against eleven for more than thirty minutes, they tried to force the score until the end, like this counter from Maghnès Akliouche, who served Denis Zakaria. It took an excellent Lucas Chevalier to deflect for a corner (90ᵉ+ 1).

Lille, for its part, has prepared well for its trip to Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday, against Atletico. If Radoslaw Majecki’s return to goal was not felt as Lille was so unproductive, the absence of Folarin Balogun with Monaco was noticed, and the team failed to score. His attackers were clumsy, like Breel Embolo (83rd): certainly, he was offside, but two meters from the cages, he managed to miss the shot offered to him by Akliouche.

The recovery after an international break is always complicated for the most exclusive clubs, major suppliers of the national teams. This is obviously the case for Monaco, where nearly fifteen potential starters were selected over the last two weeks. This lack of reference points was noticed in the last gestures, the finest to be made, of a team deliberately turned towards the offensive.

However, Monaco was dominant throughout the meeting. The Principality team’s good first quarter of an hour was even torture for Lille. Suffering from each push from Takumi Minamino (2nd) or Eliesse Ben Seghir (half-volley over, 5th, and free kick obtained, 11th), Bruno Genesio’s men nevertheless held on.

Monegasque opportunities

Even if, in the absence of their captain Benjamin André, it was impossible for them to come out with a clean ball, as the pressing from Aleksandr Golovin and his team was intense, they waited for better moments in the match. And it took a four-minute stoppage following the injury of Mitchel Bakker, replaced by Gabriel Gudmunsson (30th), for the Northerners, after numerous discussions, to manage to loosen the Monegasque grip.

Only for a moment, because quickly, they repositioned themselves in a low block, in front of Lucas Chevalier’s cage. Attentive but ultimately little used in the first period, the northern goalkeeper saw Wilfried Singo’s header go wide (21st), as did Jordan Teze’s attempt on the right (38th).

After the break, Monaco continued to push against a very unambitious Lille team. But once again, Ben Seghir from the head (56th) and Minamino (58th) were not effective.

While Monaco dominated, Monegasque Teze made a mistake. By trying to recover too quickly, he made a too dangerous move on Gudmundsson (61st). However, despite his logical exclusion, Hütter responded, bringing in Embolo, Diatta, clumsy (72nd), then Akliouche, very interesting. That wasn’t enough. And for the first time this season, Monaco did not score. This will have to be achieved on Tuesday when they host Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League.