AS Monaco are the most in-form team in Europe’s five biggest leagues, having won an impressive seven consecutive matches, the latest of which saw the Monegasques confidently beat Angers SCO in the Stade Louis II on Sunday, May 1.
The match got off to a proper start, as neither side shied away from taking off shots, but an attentive Alexander Nübel did not let the visitors score an early goal.
The momentum of the match then slowed, and it was beginning to look as if the players would be returning to the locker room with no change to the scoreline. That was until Youssouf Fofana put on a show in the opposition’s box, before firing a shot off towards the goal and hitting the goalie. The ball then deflected to Angers right-back Abdoulaye Bamba, who subsequently deflected it into the back of his own net, bringing the scoreline to 1-0 at the 42nd minute.
The Monegasque’s seemed to be spurred on by this development, as they attacked hard straight after half-time. Within the space of five minutes, Monaco had three goals disallowed for being offside, with Kevin Volland scoring his offside goal at the 47th minute and Wissam Ben Yedder scoring two offside goals at the 49th and 52nd minutes.
This was in no doubt a frustrating sequence of events for the hosts, but Ben Yedder overcame the frustration and equalled his own record all at once, as the forward capitalised on a break to score the second goal of the match and his 21st goal of the season at the 61st minute.
Angers did not give up in their pursuit of a goal, but were unable to score before the final whistle blew, marking a 2-0 home win for Monaco, and their seventh on the trot.
This seventh victory is of crucial importance to Monaco, who now close the gap to third and second place in the Ligue 1 table, with Marseille on 65 points to Monaco’s 62.
Only three matches remain in the 2021/22 Ligue 1 season, the next of which will be away against Lille OSC on Friday, May 6.
Featured image courtesy of AS Monaco
