AAP Soccer

Unbeaten Ligue 1 leaders Monaco held at home by Lille

By AAP Newswire

Oct 19, 2024

Aleksandar Golovin. — Russian winger Aleksandr Golovin has been kept under wraps in Monaco's scoreless draw with Lille. -AP

Monaco remain top of the French league after a 0-0 draw at home to Lille, but made life difficult for themselves by having to play the last half hour with 10 men.

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One of the form sides in France this year, Monaco are unbeaten in all competitions and have 20 points from eight games — three more than defending champions Paris Saint-Germain, who host Strasbourg on Saturday.

In addition to six wins and two draws in the league this season, the club from the principality are now unbeaten in their last 11 home games in Ligue 1 — their longest such run since August 2018.

Friday night's scrappy match rarely threatened to catch fire with goal opportunities few and far between for both sides.

In the first half, Jordan Teze had the best chance for Monaco but he fired over the bar from close range.

The Dutch defender's night went from bad to worse after an hour when he was shown a red card for a clumsy challenge on Gabriel Gudmundsson.

Denis Zakaria should have secured all three points for the home side in added time but goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier did well to turn his shot around the post after a quick counterattack.

Lille are in fourth place with 14 points from eight matches.