Monaco traps Rennes and takes 4th place in the standings

Monaco took a good option in the European showdown of the 32nd day of Ligue 1 on Friday April 15, beating Stade Rennais 3-2, which remains 3rd in the standings, but is now closely followed by the Monegasques.

While Wissam Ben Yedder (57^and) and Martin Terrier (90^and+3) continued their progress together in the goalscoring rankings, Flavien Tait (3^and) opened the scoring but Vanderson (12^and) and Myron Boadu (77^and) gave Monaco the lead. With this fourth victory in a row, after PSG, Metz and Troyes, Monaco temporarily rises to fourth place, overtaking Strasbourg and Nice, who are due to play on Sunday.

For Rennes, who had already been scared last week in Reims, it’s the end of a series of seven matches without defeat (six wins and a draw) and seven home wins in L1. Bruno Genesio’s men remain on the podium, but they who had the opportunity to worry Marseille in front now see Monaco, and perhaps Strasbourg and Nice, getting dangerously close behind. The double duel Strasbourg-Rennes and Monaco-Nice on Wednesday promises to be crucial.

coup de grace

Despite Monegasque pressure at the start which sent shivers down the spine, the Rennais opened the scoring with a fine collective action concluded by a cross from Hamari Traoré and a header from Flavien Tait (1-0, 3^and). Handicapped this winter by a series of injuries, Tait seemed to have regained his energy, fighting on all the balls.

But the unprecedented central hinge Omari-Santamaria aligned by Bruno Genesio to compensate for the absence of the innkeeper Nayef Aguerd, sick, quickly showed shortcomings. On a sumptuous opening from Golovin in the back of a sparse defense, Vanderson played Birger Mellin to equalize with an unstoppable half-volley (1-1, 12^and).

Rennes then began to put their foot on the ball, multiplying the passes backwards and struggling to progress, while Monaco projected themselves quickly with each ball taken. And it ended up paying off: on a new long ball forward, Kevin Volland headed for Wissam Ben Yedder, who overtook Omari to present himself alone against Dogan Alemdar (1-2, 57^and).

As Rennes pushed on in the last quarter of an hour, encouraged by a full stadium, Myron Boadu delivered the coup de grace following a hazardous restart intercepted by Aurélien Tchouaméni (1-3, 77^and). In the last minute, a foul by Sofiane Diop on Adrien Truffert gave Rennes a penalty converted by Terrier (2-3, 93^and+3). Very active but not successful in front of goal, the Rennes striker thus remained at the height of Ben Yedder in the ranking of top scorers, with 19 goals each, one length behind Kylian Mbappé.