Monaco brush aside Lyon to continue winning start to Ligue 1

Monaco secured back-to-back wins to start their Ligue 1 campaign on Saturday, outclassing Lyon 2-0 at the Groupama Stadium.

Teenager Eliesse Ben Seghir capped a fine performance with the opener midway through the second half, before Lamine Camara struck to seal the three points for the away side.

Lyon have endured another difficult start to their league campaign. After a 3-0 defeat at Rennes last weekend, they have now conceded five goals in their opening two matches, having been the form team in Ligue 1 in 2024.

“It’s incredible; we’d never won here,” said Ben Seghir. “We won by two goals. It’s the third match where we’ve kept a clean sheet (including a friendly against Barcelona); that shows the way we play.”

The hosts’ troubles began early when forward Ernest Nuamah appeared to pull a muscle and was replaced by new signing Georges Mikautadze.

The best chance of the first half fell to Monaco’s Japanese attacker, Takumi Minamino, on the half-hour mark. The former Liverpool player wriggled free inside the box with a deft touch, but Lucas Perri managed to narrow the angle and tipped the ball onto the far post.

Lyon looked to have come close to grabbing an unlikely lead right on the stroke of half-time, but Philipp Koehn shot off his line quickly to nullify the danger. A goal-kick was signalled as Said Benrahma had marginally overrun the ball in the build-up.

After the break, Monaco continued to dominate with the tricky Ben Seghir persistently troubling the Lyon defence.

The Moroccan found Minamino in a central position, who then laid the ball off to Breel Embolo. The forward’s powerful drive from just outside the box flew over the crossbar.

Embolo missed another chance on 63 minutes when Maghnes Akliouche lofted a cross into the box. He attempted an overhead kick inside a crowded area, which blazed over the goal.

However, Monaco’s pressure soon told, and it was Ben Seghir and Akliouche who provided the breakthrough on 65 minutes. The 19-year-old zipped a pass to Akliouche, who then returned the favour before Ben Seghir shifted the ball onto his right foot in tight space and threaded a precise finish into the far corner.

Camara then sealed the match in the 80th minute, finishing emphatically from Kassoum Ouattara’s cross at the back post.

Lyon appeared fatigued, and a series of errors gifted Akliouche a glorious chance with seven minutes remaining, but he ballooned his effort high and wide with only Perri to beat.

A dampener was put on Monaco’s day when Camara received a second yellow card for a late challenge.

Later on Saturday, Lille will host newly-promoted Angers, and Saint-Etienne’s Le Chaudron stadium will see the return of top-flight football after two years with the visit of Le Havre.

AFP.