Monaco move five points clear in fourth with win over Angers
With Angers’ relegation from Ligue 1 already confirmed, their only goal was to dent the European aspirations of Monaco, who had put their Europa League hopes in doubt after one win in four Ligue 1 games.
The visitors had also struggled at both ends of the pitch in recent weeks, conceding seven goals without reply over the last two games, but they started well and came close to taking the lead through Youssouf Fofana, who forced Paul Bernardoni into a smart save.
It took Angers 40 minutes to carve out their best chance of the first half, when a deflected clearance fell into the path of Ibrahima Niane, who failed to convert his fifth goal of the season from just 10 yards out.
However, a relatively quiet opening 45 minutes was capped off with a sensational Golovin stoppage-time strike, which curled beautifully into the top corner from outside the area to send Monaco in 1-0 up at the break.
Sensing another painful afternoon, Angers manager Alexandre Dujeux turned to his bench, bringing on attackers Abdallah Sima and Adrien Hunou in a bid to rescue the situation.
But to the utter despair of the home fans, they instead found their side 2-0 down on the hour mark, following a devastating counter that culminated in Myron Boadu finding the bottom corner.
To the hosts’ credit, they immediately got themselves back into the game, thanks to a wonderful Himad Abdelli cross that found the head of the Brighton loanee Sima, who made no mistake with a header low into the net.
But Angers struggled to create another clear-cut chance in front of goal, allowing Monaco to see out the game 2-1. In doing so, they avoided a suffering third consecutive league defeat for the first time since December 2020.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Aleksandr Golovin (Monaco)