Sunday, April 18, 2021 at 6:57 PM• Chris Meijer

AS Monaco has benefited from the point loss that leader Lille OSC suffered last Friday. The Monegasken won on a visit to low flyer Girondins de Bordeaux 0-3, thanks to goals from Kevin Volland, Gelson Martins and Stevan Jovetic. Monaco thus remains the number three in Ligue 1, with a point less than Paris Saint-Germain and two points behind list leader Lille.

Lille spilled expensive points on Friday evening, by drawing 1-1 against Montpellier in their own stadium. PSG already took advantage of this earlier on Sunday afternoon, by beating Saint-Étienne with some difficulty: 3-2. Monaco also made no mistake visiting number sixteen of the Ligue 1 and laid the foundation for this in the first half. After goalkeeper Benoît Costil had prevented a goal from Aleksandr Golovin, the visitors took the lead with 29 minutes on the clock.

Wissam Ben Yedder served Volland, who got rid of his direct opponent within the penalty area with a handy hood and shot into the far corner. It was already the fifteenth league goal of the German striker this season. Almost immediately after the break, Monaco seemed to decide the match in the Stade Matmut Atlantique. Martins came face to face with Costil after an excellent through pass from Aurelien Tchouameni and made no mistake: 0-2.

However, Bordeaux did not give up yet and despite the early goal against in the second half, went looking for the connection goal. For example, Monaco goalkeeper Benjamin Lecomte had to save the day against a bet by Nicolas de Préville. The substitute striker was again close to a goal in the last fifteen minutes, but could not bring back the tension in the game. Bordeaux ended the game with ten men, after a red card for Tom Lacroux. In the last minute Jovetic determined the final score at 0-3. There seems to be a thrilling title battle in France, as Olympique Lyon can reach one point from Monaco later on Sunday evening with a victory over Nantes.