Monaco (AFP)

Monaco, where the future of Leonardo Jardim remains uncertain, crushed Lille (5-1), thanks in particular to a double from Wissam Ben Yedder, Saturday evening during the 19th day of L1, and thus stuck three points behind the Mastiffs.

For a team in crisis, with a coach in the hot seat after the humiliation suffered against this same Lille Tuesday in the Coupe de la Ligue (0-3), Monaco reacted damn well. And even better!

Paradoxically, while the ultra Monegasques brandished a banner "Jardim resignation" and sang the same slogan, the whole meeting, cheers for the Portuguese coach were heard at the end of the meeting: even among supporters, the opinions concerning the future of the Portuguese technician diverges.

Welcomed in a princely box by Prince Albert and his nephew Louis Ducruet, Oleg Petrov, the vice-president of the club whose relationship with his coach is not the most serene, now knows what to expect if he wishes to dismiss the coach that his boss, Dmitri Rybolovlev brought back a year ago.

ASM is now 7th in L1 with 28 points. Or, his best ranking since the start of the season. Since the home defeat against Marseille (3-4), Monaco has accumulated 26 points in 13 games, a substantial average of two points per game.

And against Lille on Saturday, the show offered was of high quality, against an opponent "Champions League". To achieve this, Jardim decided to return to 3-5-2, which provides the most security for his team.

With Fabregas and Slimani on the bench, he favored the form of Keita Baldé and Gelson Martins in a more offensive role.

Well he took it. At the break, Monaco was already leading 2-1. However, nothing has been easy. Despite a good start to the game, the Rocher team quickly conceded a goal. Impeccably launched by Ikoné, Osimhen burned out Glik and subtly pricked his ball in front of Lecomte for his 10th goal in L1 (0-1, 13th). One shot on target, one goal: 100% success.

- Ben Yedder top scorer in L1 -

The Monegasque ultras may have asked for the coach to leave, but the team did not let go of the match or their coach. On the lookout, Ben Yedder recovered a ball and launched Gelson Martins who equalized in strength (1-1, 23rd).

Then, at the heart of an intense first period, Aguilar, on the right, allowed Baldé to show (finally) his grinta. Head, he beat the Lille defense to beat Maignan (2-1, 29th).

Lecomte then saved his family twice: with his foot in front of Osimhen (45th) and then lying perfectly on a powerful attempt by Bamba (45th + 2).

In the second period, Monaco remained very concentrated, without giving their opponent the opportunity to believe in a comeback, and made Ben Yedder, L1's top scorer, shine with 13 goals in mid-season.

First, as a surface fox, he recovered the ball released by Maignan on a Baldé header and scored (3-1, 53rd). Then on a Golovin block, he shot his teammate in the France team after a new assist from Aguilar (4-1, 65th).

Monaco in demonstration, Jardim was able to rejoice and explode with joy when his captain Kamil Glik ended the ride in additional time (5-1, 90th + 2).

© 2019 AFP