Monaco settle for a draw against Reims in Kovac’s first game

Monaco came back from two goals down to snatch a point in a 2-2 home draw against Stade de Reims in their first Ligue 1 game under new coach Nico Kovac in Ligue 1 on Sunday.

The French Ligue 1 has begun in earnest, with teams already getting wins and scoring goals. Monaco got in on the action when they faced Stade de Reims on Sunday.

The embattled French club are hoping to get some stability in the team this season. In the last two years, Monaco have used five coaches. However, former Bayern Munich coach Niko Kovac was hired to lead the Les Monégasques. Monaco ended last season in 9th place and sacked Robert Moreno in July this year.

Monaco found themselves two goals after 21 minutes following goals from Boulaye Dia and El Bilal Toure.

The visitors scored then Dia sprinted away from Badiashile and beat Benjamin Lecomte with a low shot in the fifth minute of the game to give Reims an early advantage.

The visitors went ahead to add to their tally 16 minutes later when Toure capitalized on a defensive error between Disasi and Badiashile to score a beautiful goal.

The two Monaco goals came from Axel Disasi and Benoit Badiashile, who both had started poorly in central defence, but scored either way of the interval as Monaco stepped up to put up a good performance.

Monaco gradually started growing in the game and pulled one back on the stroke of halftime as Disasi scored a header from point-blank range.

The hosts got their deserved equalizer 10 minutes into the second half when Badiashile netted with a fierce shot from Aleksandr Golovin’s free-kick.

Nimes defeated Brest 4-0 and are the early leaders after the 2020-2021 Ligue 1 season started on Friday. Lorient defeated Strasbourg 3-1, while Nice defeated Lens 2-1.

It would be remembered that there were no Ligue 1 matches for five months as the 2019-2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Written by: Collins Nwokolo