Great operation from Stade de Reims which won against AS Monaco 3-1 thanks to three magnificent goals from Teuma, Khadra and Matusiwa. The Champenois once again made the difference with their collective strength against a team which fell apart throughout the evening.
Ligue 1 is indeed back in 2024. After the draw snatched by Strasbourg yesterday on the Vélodrome pitch (1-1), Monaco hosted the Stade de Reims at Louis II. Both impacted by the CAN and the Asian Cup, the two teams presented slightly unusual faces. Ouattara took the opportunity to celebrate his first start with ASM, like new recruit Thilo Kehrer , so it was Akliouche and Golovin who supported Ben Yedder alone up front, leaving Balogun on the bench against his former club. For Reims, there are even more absentees but Will Still opted for a 4-3-3 with, a little surprise, Khadra in front and Daramy on the left side, in addition to Diakhon on the right.
Probably lacking reference points and above all concentration, the Champagne collective had difficulty entering this 18th day. Despite this great attempt from Atangana (2nd), too many restarts ended up at the Asemists' feet (3rd, 4th, 7th), one of which could have been fatal without Okumu's return in front of Vanderson. Reims recovered but that didn't stop Monaco from hurting, especially on the wings. Diouf even had to save his family in front of the young Ouattara (17th). It was then Golovin's lack of realism with this shot over the bar which offered a reprieve to the visitors (19th). And then there was this rather improbable save from Diouf coming out in front of Ben Yedder (22nd).
Reims has never weakened
A real turning point in this match because all of Louis II could already see the opening score. Stade de Reims took advantage of it. The opposing highlight calmed down and the transition play of Will Still's men began to take shape. Teuma even hit the mark on one of his team's first real chances. After seeing the ball up, the captain shifted Daramy who put it back on the ground in front of the area for a perfect wrapped shot (1-0, 32nd). Destabilized, the Monegasques took some time to react. Hütter even forced Balogun to replace Akliouche during the break. An indirectly profitable change since Ben Yedder quickly equalized on this subtle cross-shot from Golovin (1-1, 49th).
We then thought Monaco was back on track except that this improvement did not last. Almost immediately, Khadra performed an impressive solo number. Starting from the right, he overtook everyone, played with Maripan and Magassa to beat Köhn (1-2, 55th). The German would have even given a very big chance of victory if he had not failed against the Swiss goalkeeper in the following action (66th). It didn't harm his family either. Monaco never again managed to set the pace necessary to come back except for this last opportunity from Balogun (90th + 4). Reims didn't ask for that much. After two failures on the counter (88th, 90th), Matusiwa sent his left shot into the top corner (1-3, 90th+6). The Champenois still carry out quite an operation and move up to 5th place, two places and only four points behind ASM .