By beating the Marseille 2-1, AS Monaco qualified for the knockout stage of the Coupe de la Ligue on Wednesday night at Stade Louis-II.
Monaco qualified for the 8es League final by winning in front of a Marseille, who reacted too late (2-1) and embarks on the crisis, Wednesday, October 30 in the evening, at the Stade Louis-II.
With, now, only one win (against Strasbourg, 2-0) on their last seven games in all competitions, the Marseillais, already humiliated at the Parc des Princes (0-4) last Sunday, are indeed in crisis.
Saturday, at the reception of Lille on behalf of the 12e Ligue 1 day, the Stade Vélodrome is likely to boom. The pressure will be very strong on the shoulders of André Villas-Boas and his players. And certainly more on their direction, that the many supporters present in Monaco have vilified after the defeat.
His players have kept his word
Monegasque side, Leonardo Jardim can be satisfied with the qualification, a continued dynamic, the way his team clung to the score after the goal against his camp Benjamin Lecomte (2-1, 77e) and how some substitutes (notably Augustin, Maripan and Aguilar) have behaved.
Jardim had explained before the meeting that Monaco would never denigrate the League Cup. Despite seven changes compared to the starting lineup winner in Nantes (1-0) last Friday, his players have kept their word.
Even though Cesc Fabregas was very quickly injured (11e), even if the young Marseille forward Marley Aké, who was the first tenure with the first team of OM, creates the first opportunity but crosses too much his strike (13).e), Monaco never shook during the first period.
The Baldé-Augustin doublet in action
Soon Baldé-Augustin doublet went into action. The first has often been a poison for the Olympian defense. The second adjusted the target after a first failure (16e).
On a center from Ruben Aguilar, his control-strike sequence, in front of a passive Boubacar Kamara, is surgical and impossible to stop for Steve Mandanda (1-0, 25e).
Before the break, the former Parisian then performs a high-flying breakthrough. After Hiroki Sakai, he sees Mandanda hijack his shot. But Aguilar followed. He is ahead of Caleta-Car and Amavi (2-0, 40e).
September 15, Monaco led 2-0 before breaking completely. This time OM, without Benedetto suspended, did not have enough springs to reverse the situation.
Villas-Boas made two successful changes at the break (entries from Rongier and Radonjic instead of Aké and Sarr). Dimitri Payet finally showed himself at his best by regularly martyring Aguilar, as on goal (77).e). But Monaco held and qualified.
