Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes

Monaco's Moroccan midfielder Eliesse Ben Seghir (L) fights for the ball with Rennes' Dutch midfielder Azor Matusiwa during the French L1 football match between Stade Rennais FC and AS Monaco at the Roazhon Park in Rennes on October 5, 2024. (AFP)

• “After seven games, we have 19 points, that’s the reality and the truth, and we’re really happy about that,” said Monaco coach Adi Huetter

PARIS: Monaco went top of the Ligue 1 table on Saturday with a 2-1 win away to Rennes, moving three points ahead of reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain.
Goals from Thilo Kehrer and Folarin Balogun sent the principality side to 19 points. PSG, who are on 16 with a better goal difference, will have the chance to overtake them when they play Nice on Sunday.
“After seven games, we have 19 points, that’s the reality and the truth, and we’re really happy about that,” said Monaco coach Adi Huetter.
However, he added: “The championship is not a 100-meter sprint, it’s a 400-meter race, and we’ve started very well.”
Monaco’s match in the rain in Brittany was decided early in the first half. Kehrer opened the scoring before Ludovic Blas levelled and Balogun then tucked home the winner, all in the first 22 minutes.
Continuing his fine start to the season, Monaco youngster Eliesse Ben Seghir had a part in both of his side’s goals.
His sixth-minute corner met the head of Kehrer, who glanced it into the back of the net despite the efforts of a defender on the line.
Blas put Rennes back on terms five minutes later with a rocket of a left-foot strike from more than 35 yards that flew past Philipp Koehn.
But Balogun wrapped up the points for Huetter’s side when he clipped the ball past an advancing Steve Mandanda in the 22nd minute after a defense-splitting pass from Ben Seghir.
Earlier on Saturday, Lille moved up to fourth, coming from behind to win at home against lowly Toulouse.
Zakaria Aboukhlal gave the 16th-placed side a surprise lead six minutes before the interval when he squeezed a shot on the rebound over the line from a tight angle.
But former Manchester United playmaker Angel Gomes levelled for Lille on 57 minutes when he prodded home Osame Sahraoui’s lofted pass from close range.
Mitchel Bakker made it two wins in a week at home for Lille — after Wednesday’s 1-0 victory over Real Madrid in the Champions League — with a composed finish in the 72nd minute, rounding off a swift counter-attack.
A hat-trick from Zuriko Davitashvili propelled Saint-Etienne out of the relegation zone as they beat Auxerre 3-1 at home.
The Georgian opened the scoring first after a quarter of a hour with a thumping finish after carrying the ball 40 yards into the visitors’ penalty area.
He hit his second on 54 minutes after again cutting in from the left flank and taking aim with his right foot.
Theo Bair halved the deficit with 15 minutes remaining, before Davitashvili completed his triple with a dinked finish on 87 minutes.
On Sunday, Lyon host Nantes while Reims and Lens are also in action, before PSG travel to ninth-placed Nice.