Captain Cheikh N’Doye scored a brace as Angers SCO thrashed second-placed AS Monaco 3-0 to climb to third in Ligue 1 on Saturday.
After slumping to a 5-1 loss against leaders Paris Saint-Germain the previous weekend, Angers recovered in style with their biggest win this season to end Monaco’s nine-match unbeaten run in the league.
Monaco players wore their training jerseys to avoid a clash of colors with Angers and they dominated in the early stages as Bernardo Silva lost his one-on-one with goalkeeper Alexandre Letellier.
The momentum changed when Angers players started to play higher up the pitch, pegging back the visitors in their own half to orchestrate well-constructed attacks.
“Angers were better than us in every aspect,” Monaco coach Leonardo Jardim said after his players were handed their first league loss since Nov. 8 last year. “We did not play with the intensity required.”
N’Doye’s goals from close range came in the first half and Mohamed Yattara sealed the promoted side’s win soon after halftime.
“When you look at the result, one can think it was easy,” Angers coach Stephane Moulin said. “We are a small club, a small team, we have small players, a small staff, but also a little bit of pride.”
N’Doye deflected in a Romain Saiss shot with his knee, then doubled the lead with his seventh goal of the season two minutes before halftime, getting to the ball first to beat goalkeeper Danijel Subasic after Billy Ketkeophomphone hit the crossbar.
Yattara then converted a Gilles Sunu cross as Angers snapped a three-match losing run in all competitions to move within two points of Monaco.
Olympique Lyonnais failed to seize the chance to close the gap on Monaco as their inconsistent season continued with a 1-0 loss at SC Bastia.
Brandao volleyed home the winner from Axel Ngando’s cut-back in the second half as Lyon remained nine points behind Jardim’s team.
Lyon have won just one of their past 10 league games and coach Bruno Genesio was left ruing a “big disappointment.”
“Football is about being efficient in both boxes,” he said. “We are not efficient in either of those right now.”
At the bottom of the standings, Frederic Hantz celebrated his first match in charge as Montpellier Herault coach with a 4-0 win at Gazelec Ajaccio that lifted them two points above the relegation zone.
In Saturday’s other matches, Nantes won at ESTAC Troyes 1-0, Lorient beat Stade de Reims 2-0 and Toulouse lost 2-1 against En Avant de Guingamp.
The next generation of running talent takes center stage at today’s Berlin Marathon, in the absence of stars including Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian world record holder Tigist Assefa. With most of the major marathon stars skipping the event in the wake of the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, the field is wide open in the men’s and women’s races. Since 2015, Kipchoge has won five times in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele has won twice and Guye Adola once — with all three missing today. Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie and Ethiopian Tadese Takele are among the favourites for the men, while
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
RSS