Akliouche shines as Monaco beats Lyon and Lille wins at Marseille
Maghnes Akliouche scored a brilliant individual goal and American forward Folarin Balogun netted a penalty as Monaco rallied to win 2-1 at Lyon on Sunday for a sixth straight league victory.
Coach Paulo Fonseca’s slumping Lyon side is seven games without a win overall, having equaled a club record with 13 straight victories.
Sixth-place Monaco is only one point behind fourth-place Lyon and fifth-place Lille in the race for a Champions League spot next season and faces third-place Marseille after the international break.
The top three qualify directly for the Champions League and the team finishing fourth goes through qualifying.
Marseille opens the door. Marseille lost 2-1 at home to Lille, which scored a late winner through Olivier Giroud. Monaco can move level on points with Marseille if it wins their match on April 5. Marseille forward Mason Greenwood went off early on after being barged over at full speed by Calvin Verdonk. He was replaced by Ethan Nwaneri, who scored with a neat half-volley from Igor Paixao’s left-wing cross. The 19-year-old Nwaneri is on loan from Premier League leader Arsenal.
Lille goalkeeper Berke Ozer went off in first-half stoppage time after taking an accidental blow to the face from Marseille striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as they challenged for the ball. Ozer was replaced by Arnaud Bodart.
Another high-profile error from Marseille defender Leonardo Balerdi gifted Lille a 49th-minute equalizer. Balerdi’s misjudged clearance hit the foot of Thomas Meunier and went in.
Meunier then set up Giroud in the 86th with a pinpoint cross, which the veteran striker met with a typical downward header.
Lyon’s slump continues. Things looked good for Lyon when Brazil forward Endrick set up midfielder Pavel Sulc in the 42nd minute, skipping past two defenders down the right before cutting the ball back to the Czech midfielder near the penalty spot.
But Endrick went for the goal himself in the 57th and saw his shot cleared near the line with teammate Corentin Tolisso unmarked.
Akliouche equalised five minutes later when he controlled a long pass with one touch to cut inside Clinton Mata and curled a shot into the top-right corner. Akliouche then won a penalty after drawing a foul from Tolisso and Balogun sent the goalkeeper the wrong way.
The penalty was awarded despite a video review showing Endrick had his jersey pulled by Monaco captain Denis Zakaria in the buildup to the penalty.
It was a second error from the officials, who failed to spot a headbutt from Lyon left back Nicolas Tagliafico to the side of Akliouche’s head. Tagliafico raised his right arm as he was running alongside Akliouche as if to disguise the intent.
Tagliafico was sent off in the 89th for a violent lunge on Lamine Camara, whose left foot buckled under him.
Immobile gets going Veteran Italian striker Ciro Immobile finally got off the mark for new club Paris FC in a 3-2 home win over Le Havre.
It was a typical poacher’s effort from the 36-year-old Immobile to put his side ahead. He latched onto a loose ball and drilled a low shot into the opposite corner. The win moved Paris FC up to 13th under new coach Antoine Kombouare.
Rennes drew 0-0 at home to rock-bottom Metz and eighth-place Strasbourg won 3-2 at next-to-last Nantes with two late goals from Joaquin Panichelli.
The Argentina striker’s brace moved him top of the Ligue 1 scoring charts with 16, one ahead of Greenwood.
On Saturday, Paris Saint-Germain won 4-0 at Nice to reclaim top spot from Lens.
