Thursday, 17 March 2016

Things turn tasty in France...and its not the cuisine...

So there you are, chugging along in France with the inevitability of Lyon's dominance and then suddenly out of nowhere...BOOM (copyright Jurgen Klopp 2016)

At the Parc des Princes in front of 11,056 supporters, Monaco, the Division Three side with a Golden Bear in charge decided to unleash their Golden Bollocks on Gary Naylor's PSG side. 

An even and hard fought match with possession shared started well for the home side with Pastore giving PSG the lead in only three minutes...things looked bleak for Monaco but one thing we are learning about the side from the principality is that they are plucky, they keep going and they can grind out a result when needed. Level at Half Time thanks to Moutinho hitting the net on 13 minutes this game had the look of yet another draw all over it...but whatever the half time team talk consisted of it worked as Monaco proved sharper than their Division Two rivals where it mattered most...Moutinho in 63 minutes and Gabi on 77 seeing Monaco run out 3-1 winners and with events elsewhere taking a turn for the worst for Lyon there was a grand view awaiting Monaco from the table summit upon the final whistle...they are daring now to dream big in Monaco...two games to go and still unbeaten in the group could they be on the brink of advancing against all the odds.

And to help them their Division Three compatriots Marseille pulled off a shock at the Velodrome with a 1-0 win against Lyon...yes Lyon...the team who two games ago must have thought this was going to be a walk in the park are now having to look up at Monaco above them in the table and looking down to see PSG and Marseille both snapping at their heels a couple of points adrift.

Lyon dominated, they tackled hard and that was maybe their undoing on the night...Marseille took the lead completely against the run of the game on 43 minutes through Rekik...Lyon's Grenier being sent off just after the restart on 46 minutes gave Marseille hope of clinging on and they did with some excellent defending against increasingly desperate Lyon attacks...Marseille's Kevin Wallace had written off their chances and made three changes to the starting line up to allow a bit of fringe player game time...their only slim hope was the fixtures that gave them three home games now to try and rekindle their tournament...after last night they might once again be in the mix to advance and if they don't they may yet play a big part in who does.

Two games to go, Monaco top on 8 points, a positive goal difference and still unbeaten after 4 games...would anyone now bet against them??

Lyon are second on 6 points with PSG & Marseille on 4 apiece...suddenly things look a lot different in France and its all back in the mix going into the final two midweeks. 

Next week its Lyon v PSG and Monaco travel to Marseille.


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