Radamel Falcao on Tuesday scored a pair of penalties as Thierry Henry’s AS Monaco won 2-0 at fellow strugglers Amiens SC to climb out of the bottom three in Ligue 1.
The Colombian had missed twice from the spot this season, but calmly converted on 43 minutes at the Stade de la Licorne after Emil Krafth upended Benoit Badiashile.
Amiens defender Bakaye Dibassy was sent off for catching the Monaco captain with a raised boot in the 90th minute, and Falcao wrapped up a second victory in three games with another penalty deep into stoppage-time.
Photo: AFP
Henry said that he was not getting too carried away with his team’s narrow victory.
“From our side of things, in terms of how we played, it wasn’t extraordinary, but we held on. Fortunately, Falcao was there when we needed him,” Henry said.
“We must not overreact, we need to continue to work and use the positive aspects of each match to inspire us,” he added.
The result provisionally bumped Henry’s side up to 17th place above Dijon FCO and Amiens on goal difference, confirming their recent upturn under the former France star in the past few weeks.
Nicolas Pepe hit his 10th goal of the season to send Lille OSC back up to second following a 1-0 win over Montpellier Herault, who dropped a spot to third.
The Ivory Coast international swept home from a Jonathan Ikone cross with just six minutes gone as Lille snapped a four-match winless run.
OGC Nice extended their unbeaten run under Patrick Vieira to six games with a 0-0 draw at home to Angers SCO, who saw goalkeeper Ludovic Butelle dismissed in the closing stages.
Butelle’s sending-off forced midfielder Baptiste Santamaria to take over the gloves in injury-time, with Angers having used all three of their substitutions.
Paris Saint-Germain, 13 points clear at the top, were yesterday to be without Neymar as they looked to continue their undefeated record in Ligue 1 this season on a trip to Strasbourg.
The world’s most expensive player came off early in the second half in Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Girondins de Bordeaux after hurting the same groin he injured playing for Brazil against Cameroon last month.
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