Folarin Balogun made his debut off the bench for Monaco, but he may have been a bit too excited to see his first action as he received a yellow card in their win over Lens.
Monaco 3-0 Lens
Monaco maintained their hold on the top spot in the Ligue 1 standings with a comfortable win over last season’s runner-up Lens at the Stade Louis II.
This would mark the debut of Folarin Balogun as he came off the bench for the Monegasques to play the final 16 minutes and change of the game that was already done and dusted.
The hosts jumped out to take the lead in the 24th minute when Wilfried Singo headed in Caio Henrique’s corner kick. The surprise Champions League participants did their best to find the equalizer, but Monaco doubled their lead 12 minutes later when Takumi Minamino played the ball in the 18-yard box for Aleksandr Golovin and the Russian midfielder fired a quick shot past a stunned Brice Samba.
Guillermo Maripan would grab the team’s third goal just before the hour mark when another corner kick from Henrique found the unmarked Chilean in the box to head the ball home.
With the game in hand, Monaco head coach Adi Hutter decided to give Balogun a runout. The forward, who had an excellent season while on loan at Reims, wanted to make a good impression in his first appearance for his new team, but perhaps he was too eager as he was shown a yellow card in the 78th minute for diving as he tried to round the goalkeeper.
All in all, the hosts had a strong outing and the win puts them at the summit of Ligue 1 with 10 points.
Notes
Emmanuel Sabbi saw no action for Le Havre as they recorded a 3-0 win over Lorient to put them in 10th place in the standings.
Follow Yanks Abroad on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn for news and views on Americans playing the beautiful game around the world and the U.S. national team.
