Tanner Tessmann came out on top over Tim Weah in the Battle of the Yanks, but it was Folarin Balogun who found the back of the net in Ligue 1 action.
Monaco 3 – 2 Strasbourg
Having heard that he will be joining the national team for the upcoming friendlies, the news obviously motivated Folarin Balogun who scored his first goal of the young Ligue 1 season. The former Arsenal man should have scored much sooner than his second half strike but when Denis Lemi Zakaria crossed the ball into the six-yard box, right into his path, the defender did just enough to put him off getting a shot off.
Two minutes later the men from the principality were celebrating anyway after a moment of stupidity from the Strasbourg keeper when Balogun challenged him. That allowed Maghnes Akliouche to take advantage of the gift and score his second of the season. The American had a chance just before the half when he was played through and raced past a pair of defenders but the man between the Strasbourg posts made the save. His goal came in the 48th minute when he beat the offside trap and coolly chipped the keeper to double the lead.
The visitors fought back and got themselves back into the game with a 73rd and 76th minute strike from both Dilane Bakwa and Joaquín Panichelli. But the point was denied by former Liverpool midfielder Takumi Minamino who came on late in the second half and scored in the 96th minute to seal the points.
Sitting in the fourth spot, Monaco will travel to Auxerre after the break after the break.
Lyon 1 – 0 Marseille
Tanner Tessmann faced off against Tim Weah when Olympique Marseille made the 200-mile trip up to Lyon on Sunday night and it was the former FC Dallas midfielder who came away with the narrow victory at Parc Olympique Lyonnais. Weah put in a 72-minute shift while Tessmann went the distance.
Lyon had two excellent chances early in the game to take the lead but when the referee pointed to the spot to award them a penalty, VAR called the ref over to have a second look, and the decision was overturned. Then a well worked goal was cancelled due to the offside flag going up. Another shout ended up with English defender, C.J. Egan-Riley seeing a straight red card for bringing down Malick Fofana who was bearing down on goal. Tessmann also had a half decent chance, but his effort was deflected over the cross bar.
Tessmann did have another chance in the second half when he got the ball well inside the 18-yard box but he scuffed his shot to the relief of the Marseille keeper.
The breakthrough didn’t come until very late in the game when the hosts finally found the back of the net. Correction. Marseille found the back of the net, but it was an own goal from captain Leonardo Balerdi.
The victory keeps Lyon perfect as they head into the international break. They’ll look to keep a zero in the loss column when they go up against Stade Rennes on the road. Meanwhile, Weah and company will host Lorient.
Toulouse 3 – 6 PSG
It was a goal-fest when the reigning French champions headed south to take on Mark McKenzie and the Violets on Saturday night. The American went the distance so got to see a half dozen balls fly into the back of his net first hand.
The action got underway very early when João Neves hit the first of his hat trick after just seven minutes. Bradley Barcola doubled the score two minutes later before the young Portuguese midfielder struck again in the 14th minute. Ousmane Dembélé scored a brace of his own and both came from the penalty spot. The first was just past the half hour mark, with the second coming early on after the intermission.
Toulouse refused to roll over and take the beating and did their best to get back into the game. Former Leeds United man Charlie Cresswell got one back, making it 1-4 just before the half time whistle. In the second half the Parisians scored twice more but the hosts scored two more as well. Obviously, it was too little too late.
With the international break giving the boys time to lick their wounds and figure out how to defend better, they’ll go again when they travel to the Belgian border to take on the Dogues of Lille.
