Nabil Fekir scored his second goal of the game with a free kick deep into injury time as Lyon beat defending champion Monaco 3-2 in the French league on Friday. Fekir won the free kick in the fifth minute of
Nabil Fekir scored his second goal of the game with a free kick deep into injury time as Lyon beat defending champion Monaco 3-2 in the French league on Friday.
Fekir won the free kick in the fifth minute of injury time, and then stepped up to curl the ball inside the bottom left corner from 25 meters (yards) for his seventh league goal in nine games.
“It’s a great win, even though Monaco was missing a few players,” he said.
Second-place Monaco stays three points behind Paris Saint-Germain, which can move six clear by winning at Dijon on Saturday. Lyon moved up to third place ahead of this weekend’s matches.
Monaco twice equalized in the first half through midfielders Rony Lopes and Adama Traore, canceling out goals from striker Mariano Diaz and Fekir.
It was Fekir who set up Diaz in the 11th minute with a cross from the left wing to the back post, but Lopes equalized in the 17th.
Six minutes later, Fekir turned in a cross from defender Ferland Mendy — again from the left — before Traore leveled in the 34th with a powerful strike from the edge of the area.
Monaco coach Leonardo Jardim rested top scorer Radamel Falcao, who played for Colombia in a World Cup qualifier on Tuesday night, while forward Stevan Jovetic was out with a thigh injury.
Keita Balde made his first start for Monaco since joining from Lazio in the offseason and astutely set up Lopes’ goal.
Collecting the ball on the halfway line, Balde shielded it well and turned quickly before clipping a superb first-time pass into the path of Lopes, who advanced before drilling a shot inside the near post.
After Traore and Balde missed good chances in the second half, Monaco goalkeeper Danijel Subasic made a fine stop to deny Diaz, who then hit the post with a rasping free kick.
