French football’s Ligue 1 saw several leading clubs squander opportunities to narrow the gap on front-runners Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, as Monaco capitalized on their rivals’ stumbles to climb into second place after the 10th round of matches.
Monaco secured a decisive 5-3 victory over Nantes, propelling them to 20 points and positioning them directly behind PSG. The win allowed them to overtake several teams that failed to convert leads into victories.
Lyon notably threw away a commanding 3-0 advantage against Paris FC, ultimately drawing 3-3. This result left them in fifth place with 19 points, missing a chance to draw level with PSG.
Corentin Tolisso opened the scoring for Lyon in the fifth minute. Pavel Sulc then added two goals in the 51st and 58th minutes, seemingly cementing their lead.
However, a red card for Lyon’s Brazilian defender Abner Vinicius in the 61st minute shifted the momentum. Paris FC capitalized quickly, with Adama Camara scoring in the 65th minute.
Despite Paris FC’s Thibault De Smet also receiving a red card shortly after for accumulating yellow cards, the home side completed a remarkable comeback. Ilan Kebbal scored in the 77th minute, followed by Vincent Marchetti’s equalizer in the 84th minute. Lyon’s Portuguese coach, Paulo Fonseca, was serving a ban and was not on the bench for the match, which featured Portuguese players Mathys de Carvalho and Afonso Moreira in Lyon’s starting eleven.
Marseille similarly failed to capitalize on the day’s events, conceding a late equalizer in the 96th minute to draw 2-2 against Angers. This left Marseille in third position, also with 19 points.
Robinio Vaz scored twice for Marseille in the 52nd and 70th minutes, overturning an earlier goal from Angers’ Sidiki Cherif. However, Ousmane Camara’s goal deep into injury time snatched a point for Angers.
Even league leaders Paris Saint-Germain only managed a 1-1 draw against Lorient. Despite this, PSG maintained their lead with 21 points, though their advantage did not expand.
Monaco’s high-scoring win against Nantes was highlighted by Aleksandr Golovin’s brace in the 75th and 90+4 minutes. Other Monaco goals came from Coulibaly in the sixth minute, Balogun in the 41st minute, and Akliouche in the 55th minute. Nantes’ goals were scored by Bahereba Guirassy (19, 45+6 minutes) and Mostafa Mohamed (80 minutes). Portuguese international goalkeeper Antony Lopes featured for Nantes.
Elsewhere, Strasbourg secured a 3-0 victory against penultimate-placed Auxerre, climbing to fourth place with 19 points, level with Marseille and Lyon. Rafael LuÃs was in Strasbourg’s starting lineup. Toulouse and Rennes drew 2-2 in another match. Angers currently sits 13th with 10 points, while Paris FC is 12th with 11 points.