Monaco lay marker with Marseille win
Sunday, September 1, 2013
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AS Monaco FC demonstrated title-winning potential with a 2-1 success at high-flying Olympique de Marseille, on a day when AS Saint-Étienne downed FC Girondins de Bordeaux.
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AS Monaco FC gave a demonstration of their title-winning potential in Ligue 1 with a 2-1 triumph at high-flying Olympique de Marseille, on a day when AS Saint-Étienne saw off FC Girondins de Bordeaux by the same scoreline.
Marseille had won all three of their league fixtures before welcoming Monaco and they took the lead just before the break as defender Lucas Mendes headed in from a Mathieu Valbuena corner.
The visitors had already shown their attacking intentions, though, and they levelled shortly after the restart, Falcao grabbing his third Ligue 1 effort this term. With 11 minutes remaining, the Colombian's in-form strike partner Emmanuel Rivière then sped past Mendes and beat Steve Mandanda from close range.
The result lifted Claudio Ranieri's side top after four games, a point ahead of Marseille and St-Étienne, who got the better of Bordeaux thanks to goals from Romain Hamouma and Loïc Perrin. In the day's other game, Montpellier Hérault SC drew 2-2 at OGC Nice despite losing Djamel Bakar to a late red card.
