AS Monaco began their Ligue 1 season with a hard-fought 1-0 win away to Le Havre on the evening of Sunday, August 23, an opening-day fixture the club also faced last season, sandwiched between their two Conference League play-off legs against Górnik Zabrze.
Having opened their season with a 3-2 win in Poland in their first official fixture, Monaco travelled to Normandy for a fixture that has traditionally proved difficult, the club hadn’t won at Stade Océane since November 2008, despite having won its opening league fixture in each of the previous four seasons.
Head coach Filipe Luís made a handful of changes from Thursday’s European tie, with Christian Mawissa suspended and replaced at left-back by Flávio Nazinho, who had spoken to the press the day before the match. Mamadou Coulibaly and Aleksandr Golovin, both rested from the European trip for the same reason, returned to the starting eleven.
Played under bright sunshine at Stade Océane, in front of around 600 travelling Monaco supporters, the match began brightly for the visitors, with Paris Brunner heading a good Vanderson cross narrowly off target inside the opening ten minutes. That early warning shot was followed by the breakthrough just moments later: Eric Dier rose to head home from a corner delivered by Nazinho, opening the scoring in the 15th minute, Dier’s second opening-day goal in as many seasons, and the first assist of Nazinho’s Monaco career.
Monaco continued to dominate the opening stages, coming close to doubling their lead through a one-on-one between Brunner and Le Havre goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi, who got the better of the striker before repeating the feat moments later against Golovin. Le Havre briefly thought they had equalised through Amir Richardson in the 26th minute, following a fine save from Lukáš Hradecký, only for the goal to be ruled out by VAR for offside. The remainder of the half passed relatively quietly, with Hradecký comfortably dealing with a volleyed effort from Samatta before the break.
The second half followed a similar pattern, with the tempo picking up gradually. Substitute Anis Soubeir made an immediate impact after coming on, testing Mpasi in a one-on-one shortly after his introduction, while Hradecký produced another important save to deny Richardson moments later. Fellow substitute Mika Biereth thought he had put the result beyond doubt in the 63rd minute, only for his header from a corner to be ruled out.
Despite that setback, Monaco continued to create chances through Lamine Camara and Golovin, both denied by Mpasi from distance and from a direct free-kick respectively. Le Havre pushed for a leveller in the closing stages, with Hradecký called into action again to deny efforts from Ndiaye and Koffi, before a late strike from Mizuta drifted just wide in stoppage time to preserve Monaco’s clean sheet.
The result marks Monaco’s 15th opening-day victory of a Ligue 1 season in the 21st century, the second-highest total in the division over that period behind Lyon’s 17, and extends the club’s current run of five consecutive opening-day wins, the longest active streak in Ligue 1.
Attention now turns fully to the return leg of Monaco’s Conference League play-off against Górnik Zabrze, to be played at Stade Louis-II on Thursday, kicking off at 18:45.