Nantes (AFP)

With a 5th victory in a row, Monaco moved closer to the Ligue 1 podium by sinking 2-1 from Nantes still at the gates of the relegation zone on Sunday at the Beaujoire stadium.

The only team in the championship to have recorded only victories in 2021, Monaco continues its good streak with "only" two goals - against at least 3 in the last matches - from Kevin Volland and the now unavoidable Guillermo Maripan.

For the players of Raymond Domenech, yet catchy in the first half, it is however a 13th game without a win.

The red zone is fast approaching for Nantes, still 17th by a hair, tied on points with Lorient (18th) and only 3 lengths from Dijon (19th) and Nîmes (20th).

With already 4 points behind Saint-Etienne (16th), the Canaries will not have the right to make mistakes on Wednesday at Geoffroy-Guichard.

The two teams, however, were almost equal for almost the entire first half: if the possession remained Monegasque, the Nantes residents displayed much more fighting spirit than usual.

They who had not framed any shot last week in Metz offered themselves the first opportunity, with a header from Andrei Girotto well captured by goalkeeper Benjamin Lecomte (5th).

But then they lacked too much precision in the penultimate gesture.

With the exception of a close lob from Imran Louza, the chances were rare (30th).

Opposite, Monaco stumbled on a Nantes defensive block again well in place and on a Sofiane Diop not very lucky: he found the post on a powerful strike (18th) and missed his recovery on a center from Kevin Volland (38th ).

But the Principality's players gradually accelerated the movement, until they took advantage of a bad pass back from Dennis Appiah directly for a corner.

On the action that followed, Djibril Sidibé sent a center millimeter for the head of Maripan (0-1, 45th).

A 4th goal in 5 matches for the Chilean defender ...

Back from the locker room, Ben Yedder continued to sow doubt in the Nantes defense by sinking into the area to find the small outside net (47th) and then scoring a goal finally canceled for offside (59th).

Monaco finally made the break just after a recovery from the left of Volland, served by Caio Enrique (0-2, 60th).

A wind of panic then seized the Canaries, completely disorganized.

To the point of losing his mind on a whistled foul against Moses Simon.

Coming to complain, captain Nicolas Pallois received a first yellow card, then a second because his complaints did not stop (73rd).

Reduced to ten, the Nantes people paradoxically got back into the game, managing to get closer to Lecomte's goal and even to reduce the mark thanks to a header from Renaud Emond on a free kick from Sébastien Corchia deflected with the head by Girotto (1-2 , 83rd).

© 2021 AFP