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Monaco back on Ligue 1 podium as Lille lose / Photo: © AFP
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Monaco back on Ligue 1 podium as Lille lose
Monaco climbed back up to third place in Ligue 1 on Saturday after their 3-2 win at home to struggling Rennes was followed by a 2-1 defeat for Lille at Strasbourg.
In the principality, Monaco followed their 1-0 win at home to Aston Villa in the Champions League in midweek by seeing off Rennes thanks to goals by Maghnes Akliouche, Mika Biereth and Aleksandr Golovin.
Akliouche lit up the occasion in front of a sparse crowd at the Stade Louis II by opening the scoring with a breathtaking overhead kick after quarter of an hour.
Golovin hit the bar moments later when he should have found the net, and instead Mahamadou Nagida equalised for Rennes in first-half stoppage time.
Danish striker Biereth restored Monaco's lead early in the second half, the former Arsenal youngster getting his first goal since signing from Sturm Graz earlier this month.
Akliouche then set up Russian international Golovin for Monaco's third on 56 minutes, although they were still forced to hang on at the end after Amine Gouiri got another goal back for Rennes.
Monaco's first win in five Ligue 1 games lifted them back up to third, three points behind Marseille and two ahead of Lille, who stay fourth after their defeat in Strasbourg.
Rennes remain outside the bottom three only on goal difference and have lost five games out of five between league and cup in 2025 -- they have been beaten seven times in 10 outings since former Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli was appointed in November with the task of turning around their fortunes.
"I feel that I can do something for this club and I will do what I can to get us out of this situation", Sampaoli said when asked if he already felt his position was under threat.
Like Monaco, Lille are already certain to feature in the knockout phase of the Champions League although they saw a club record 21-game unbeaten run in all competitions ended in a 2-1 defeat at Liverpool in midweek.
In Strasbourg, the visitors went ahead early on when Norwegian-born Moroccan international Osame Sahraoui pounced on a defensive error to score.
However, talented Brazilian midfielder Andrey Santos, who is on loan from Chelsea, equalised 20 minutes from time and Emanuel Emegha got what proved to be the winner shortly after for Strasbourg.
The side coached by Englishman Liam Rosenior are now unbeaten in eight games in all competitions.
Leaders Paris Saint-Germain hosted Reims in the late game with Georgian winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia handed his debut after signing from Napoli last week for a reported 70 million euros ($72m).
Marseille go to Nice in the Mediterranean derby on Sunday.
A.Smith--SFF
