Monaco topped the Ligue 1 table on Saturday with a 2-1 win against Rennes to move three points clear of reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain. Goals from Thilo Kehrer and Folarin Balogun sent the principality to 19 points. PSG, who are 16th with a better goal difference, will have the chance to overtake them on Sunday when they play Nice. “After seven games we have 19 points, that is the reality and the truth, and we are very happy with that,” said Monaco coach Adi Huetter.
However, he added: “The championship is not a 100-metre sprint, it's a 400-metre race, and we have started very well.”
Monaco's match in the rain in Brittany was decided early in the first half. Kehrer opened the scoring before Ludovic Blas equalized and Balogun then netted the winner, all in the opening 22 minutes.
Continuing his good start to the season, Monaco youngster Eliesse Ben Seghir had a hand in both of his side's goals.
His corner kick in the sixth minute bounced off the head of Kehrer, who looked it into the back of the net despite the best efforts of a defender on the line.
Blas put Rennes back in order five minutes later with a rocket of a left-foot strike from more than 35 yards that flew past Philipp Koehn.
But Balogun took the points for Huetter's side when he clipped the ball past an advancing Steve Mandanda after a defensive pass from Ben Seghir in the 22nd minute.
Earlier on Saturday, Lille moved up to fourth place after coming from behind to win at home to lowly Toulouse.
Zakaria Aboukhlal gave the 16th-placed team a surprise lead six minutes before the break when he squeezed a shot from the rebound over the line from a tight angle.
But former Manchester United playmaker Angel Gomes leveled for Lille after 57 minutes when he poked home Osame Sahraoui's high pass from close range.
Mitchel Bakker made it two wins in a week at home for Lille – following Wednesday's 1-0 victory over Real Madrid in the Champions League – with a composed finish in the 72nd minute to cap off a quick counter-attack.
A hat-trick from Zuriko Davitashvili propelled Saint-Etienne out of the relegation zone as they beat Auxerre 3-1 at home.
The Georgian was the first to open the scoring after fifteen minutes with a thumping finish after carrying the ball 40 meters into the visitors' penalty area.
He struck his second in the 54th minute, after again cutting in from the left flank and firing with his right foot.
Theo Bair halved the deficit with 15 minutes to go, before Davitashvili completed his triple with a poor finish after 87 minutes.
Lyon host Nantes on Sunday, while Reims and Lens are also in action, before PSG travel to ninth-placed Nice.
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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