Having narrowly beaten Marseille with character in the previous match, AS Monaco delighted fans with another confident goal-filled fixture to stay at the top of Ligue 1, this time against Reims at the Stade Auguste-Delaune II on the evening of Saturday, October 7.

Ismail Jakobs outpaced the competition to put himself in the right place on the far side of the goal from Krepin Diatta, who squared the ball to his Senegalese compatriot. Jakobs wasted no time in finding the back of the net with a tidy finish wide of the keeper to make it 0-1 for the visiting Monegasques at the 42nd minute.

The situation rapidly deteriorated for the hosts after halftime, as former Reims striker Folarin Balogun scored against his own team with a strong shot at point blank range to adjust the scoreline to 0-2 only one minute into the second half. The US international showed humility by not celebrating his goal against his former team, but was understandably chuffed to get on the scoresheet.

Monaco captain Wissam Ben Yedder only further extended his side’s lead with a header at the 49th minute, having been found in the box from quite some distance by Jakobs with an applaudable assist.

Reims got one back for the home crowd, thanks to a successfully converted penalty courtesy of Teddy Teuma to bring the match to 1-3 at the 57th minute. Despite a flurry of subsequent substitutions and several yellow cards for Monaco, the score remained unchanged as the final whistle blew, and the Monegasques return to the Principality with three important points from another win to provisionally keep them on top of the Ligue 1 table ahead of another international break.

https://twitter.com/AS_Monaco/status/1710760427313918274

With club football put on hold for two weeks, Monaco will next face Metz at the Stade Louis II on Sunday, October 22.

Featured image courtesy of AS Monaco