Monaco (AFP)

Monaco built in the second period a large victory over Metz (4-0) at the opening of the 31st day of Ligue 1 on Saturday, at the very beginning of the afternoon, and with 62 points temporarily settled on the third step of the podium. .

The Monegasques have therefore succeeded: thanks to scorers Cesc Fabregas, Kevin Volland, and a double from Wissam Ben Yedder, they won easily before Lyon, now 4th, Paris SG and Lille play this same Saturday.

The men of President Dmitri Rybolovlev, launched for many weeks in the hunt for a qualification in the Champions League, can no longer hide.

In 2021, the dynamics of the Principality club are also exceptional: 11 wins, 2 draws and only one defeat.

Monaco can therefore believe in a happy tomorrow.

However, those who follow an international period are often complicated for teams where internationals abound.

Monaco is no exception to the rule.

Without his three French internationals A and Espoirs (Ben Yedder and Benoît Badiashile on the bench, Aurélien Tchouameni injured and suspended), the first period was difficult.

Except for a header from Volland on the post of Marc-Aurèle Caillard (33rd) following a cross from Aleksandr Golovin, Niko Kovac's men purred too much to surprise well-organized Messins, able to quickly come out against, especially by going look in the back of the side Caio Henrique.

In turn, Fabien Centonze, Papa Yade and Mamadou Gueye were dangerous (28th and 45th).

- Lined with WBY -

The strident instructions of Frédéric Antonetti, urging his players to be more ambitious, have even failed to bear fruit.

Served by Farid Boulaya, little in sight until then, Gueye forced Benjamin Lecomte to a high class stop (41st).

But, this season, Monaco do not give their rivals twice the opportunity to lead.

After missing the opportunity, the Messins remained alive only five minutes in period.

Jovetic, on the other hand, offered himself a face-to-face with Caillard and, after missing his dive, was offered a generous penalty (48th).

Already a scorer at the start of the season in the same exercise against Paris SG (3-2), Fabregas transformed the test with a flick of the right full axis (1-0, 50th).

Having managed to do the hard part, the Monegasques quickly drove the point home to make the break.

The young Belgian midfielder Eliot Matazo, 18, replacing Tchouameni and nicknamed Rio by his teammates, in tribute to Mavuba, made a high-flying breakthrough before serving Volland.

The German, with a cross strike, was quick to score his 14th goal in L1 (2-0, 52nd).

Kovac took the opportunity to spin.

Ben Yedder entered.

On a nice deep pass from Henrique, he made a high-level sequence to score strongly (3-0, 77th).

Ten minutes later, he scored his 8th penalty of the season and his 15th goal in L1 (4-0, 87th).

© 2021 AFP