Lyon (AFP)
Monaco, who came second in the French Football League last season, achieved their second consecutive victory at the start of the new season, by beating their host Lyon 2-0 in the second round.
Monaco, who beat Saint-Etienne 1-0 in the opening match, owe the three points to the Moroccan duo Ilyes Ben Seghir and Senegalese Lamine Camara, as the bronze medalist at the Paris Olympics with the “Atlas Lions” opened the scoring in the 65th minute.
Camara added the second goal (80), before being sent off for receiving a second yellow card in the seventh minute of stoppage time.
Lyon, who are bottom of the table with no points after starting their season with a shock 3-0 defeat to Rennes, were hoping to achieve a better result in their 1,200th home match in Ligue 1, becoming the sixth club to reach this threshold, after Marseille, Bordeaux, Saint-Etienne, Rennes and Monaco.
Lyon suffered a morale blow with the loss of their young Ghanaian striker Ernest Nwamah, who was injured in the 15th minute and left the field, to be replaced by Georgian George Mikotadze after coach Pierre Sage preferred veteran striker Alexandre Lacazette (33 years old).
Unmarked on the edge of the penalty area, Swiss striker Breel Embolo almost opened the scoring for Monaco, after an individual effort from Ben Seghir, but his shot went to the left of the goal (24), before Japanese Takumi Minamino shot a ball that Lyon’s Brazilian goalkeeper Lucas Perry blocked and hit the post (30).
With the first half ending in a goalless draw, Monaco continued to threaten their host’s goal with two chances from Embolo, a shot from 20 metres that went over the goal (52), and a cross ball that did not hit the net (63).
The pressure from the emirate club resulted in the first goal thanks to Ben Sagheer (19 years old), who started the attack from 35 meters away and ended it with a shot with his right foot from inside the area after a pass from Magnes Akliouch (65).
Camara added the second goal for Monaco after a pass from the Ivorian substitute Kassoum Ouattara (80), before he was sent off for receiving two yellow cards (97).
Monaco, led by Austrian coach Adi Hütter for the second season, are third on goal difference, behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain, who crushed Montpellier 6-0 in the opening match, and Lille, who later beat Angers 2-0.
Lille did not perform well against the newly promoted team, but they managed to snatch the three points with two goals by veteran Belgian defender Thomas Meunier (34) and Guinean substitute Mohamed Bayo (95).
It is the second win in the first two stages of Lille, an achievement he has not achieved since 2006.
Lille are preparing in the best possible way for their trip to Prague, where they will face Slavia on Wednesday to book their ticket to the Champions League group stage, having won 2-0 in the first leg.
Le Havre achieved its first victory, after losing to Saint-Germain 1-4 in the opening match, and it came at the expense of its host Saint-Etienne, who returned with two goals from Guinean Abdoulaye Touré (57 from a penalty kick) and Senegalese Aruna Sangeant (67).
Saint-Etienne suffered its second consecutive loss after falling to Monaco 0-1 in the opening match.
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