An altogether dominant AS Monaco conceded to a 1-1 draw against visiting side Le Havre at the Stade Louis II on Sunday, February 4, losing precious points in the fight for a top spot in the Ligue 1 table.
A heartfelt tribute was paid to Monaco legend Jean Petit, who passed away last Tuesday, in which a minute of applause was respected before kick-off with the family of Petit in attendance alongside HSH Prince Albert and the president of the Principality side, Dmitry Rybolovlev. All Monaco players donned a jersey honouring the late player.
The visiting side got stuck right in from the start of the match, but Monaco responded with confidence, applying pressure to the Havre goal albeit without much success as both sides returned to the locker rooms goalless at half-time.
However, it did not take long for Monaco to open the scoring in the second half through the usual suspects. Aleksandr Golovin found Maghnes Akliouche, who subsequently found the skipper, Wissam Ben Yedder. The Monaco number 10 did not hesitate to score his 11th goal of the 2023/24 Ligue 1 season, and the first of the match, at the 63rd minute.
The celebrations were short lived, as a Havre free kick was accidentally deflected into the Monaco goal by Youssouf Fofana just two minutes later, levelling the scoreline by the 65th minute.
Now back to square one, Monaco fought for one more goal in the right direction, but were unable to find the back of the net again before the final whistle blew to solidify a less than ideal 1-1 draw in the Stade Louis II.
Despite taking 14 more shots than their visitors, Monaco could not recover from the earlier mistake and therefore drop down to fifth place in the French championship, further out of reach of the top three places that qualify for the all-important UEFA Champions League tournament next season.
Fortunately, there is still time to rectify recent results in Ligue 1, but not before Monaco faces Championnat National team FC Rouen 1899 in the Coupe de France Round of 16 on the evening of Thursday, February 8.
