If the draw (2-2) is almost a lesser evil after being led 2-0, Monaco weakened its place on the podium, threatened by Lille and Lyon, Friday, in Nantes, at the opening of the 17th day of the League 1.
With 31 points, the Monegasques, whose goal difference is +10, could be overtaken, in the event of a victory, by Lille which has 28 (+10), traveling to Auxerre (9:00 p.m.), or even Lyon, which has 28 points also (+8) and will play in Brest on Saturday.
For the Nantais who remained in a meritorious draw in Lille (1-1), it is a bittersweet point which allows them, of course, to temporarily leave the red zone (14th), but they have 16 units, just like Angers (15th) and Saint-Etienne who play on Sunday.
The result therefore leaves no one happy at the end of a match largely dominated by Adi Hütter’s men who were singularly lacking in edge in front of the opposing goal.
Handicapped by the last minute absence of Maghnes Akliouche, which was added to that of Aleksandr Golovin, George Ilenikhena, Takumi Minamino or Folarin Balogun, the Rocher players often came up against the well-grouped Canaries defense.
Without two big individual opponent errors, we even wonder how they would have come back to score, while Nantes had almost fired all guns blazing offensively.
Following good pressure from Johann Lepenant on Mohammed Salisu, Welsh winger Sorba Thomas recovered the ball, overwhelmed and centered behind him, only to find, after a clever feint from Douglas Augusto, Matthis Abline, whose cross rebound hit the mark ( 1-0, 12th).
At the start of the second half, the same Thomas also saw Kelvin Amian cut his cross to the near post to double the lead (2-0, 47th).
But Nantes is one of the teams which has lost the most points in Ligue 1 after leading.
In nine matches where they found themselves in a favorable situation, Antoine Kombouaré’s men conceded four draws and two defeats.
They may regret that Moses Simon’s strike in the 82nd minute, almost a carbon copy of the one which gave victory in the derby against Rennes (1-0), this time found the crossbar.
But they will especially regret the ease with which Breel Embolo got rid of Nicolas Pallois in the 52nd to reduce the gap (2-1) and the completely missed aerial exit from Anthony Lopes on a corner in the 60th, which offered the equalizer at Salisu, with a header at the far post in the empty cages (2-2).
Monaco, for its part, did not know how to take advantage of another gift from Pallois who had cleared directly on Eliesse Ben Seghir, who made Lopes (55th) shine this time, while Pallois redeemed himself a little also by blocking on his line a ball deflected by Embolo in the 82nd.
