Monaco keep cool ahead of Marseille crucial clash

PARIS:

Monaco midfielder Bernardo Silva brushed off comparisons between the Ligue 1 title contenders and Europe’s heavyweights ahead of today’s visit of traditional French giants Marseille. Leonardo Jardim’s side qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League in midweek as winners of Group E following a 2-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur and find themselves locked in a three-way battle with Nice and Paris Saint-Germain in France.

Monaco have terrorized opposing defenses with a European-high 39 league goals, generating genuine belief they can topple reigning champions PSG to land a first top-flight title since 2000. “We know we’re good but we must keep on working. There are still things to improve. We play very attacking football, we score lots of goals but we can never be perfect,” said Portuguese international Silva. “To be compared with Real Madrid or Barcelona is great but we’re not at the same level. We can’t get carried away. “We have a bit more experience this year, but compared to the giants of Europe, we still have a long way to go.” Monaco have collected 16 of a possible 18 points at the Stade Louis II and could again provisionally replace leaders Nice at the top with victory over Marseille, who secured their first win under new coach Rudi Garcia last weekend. Unai Emery’s PSG seized control of their Champions League destiny with a 2-2 draw at Arsenal on Wednesday, leaving them as heavy favorites to wrap up first place in Group A. “We almost played the perfect match,” midfielder Blaise Matuidi told Canal+. “These matches allow us French Ligue 1 table ahead of this weekend’s matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Nice 13 10 Monaco 13 9 Paris SG 13 9 Lyon 13 7 Guingamp 13 6 Rennes 13 6 Bordeaux 13 5 Toulouse 13 5 Saint-Etienne 13 4 Angers 13 5 Marseille 13 4 Metz 13 5 Montpellier 13 3 Dijon 13 3 Caen 13 4 Bastia 13 3 Nantes 13 3 Nancy 13 3 Lille 13 3 Lorient 13 2

Nice dumped out of Europe

2 2 2 1 4 3 5 4 6 3 5 2 6 5 1 3 3 3 1 1

to gauge ourselves and we showed that Paris are a great team.”

The capital club have won five of their last six matches but face a tough assignment on Sunday with a trip to resurgent Lyon, who 1 2 2 5 3 4 3 4 3 5 4 6 4 5 8 7 7 7 9 10 25 39 26 21 18 14 16 17 14 12 13 13 20 16 10 10 9 8 10 9 9 15 7 16 13 17 14 12 11 12 13 22 27 18 22 13 18 19 19 23 32 29 29 22 22 21 20 19 18 18 17 17 15 14 13 12 12 12 10 7

snapped PSG’s long unbeaten run in the corresponding fixture at Parc OL last season. Alexandre Lacazette’s second-half winner against Dinamo Zagreb kept alive Lyon’s hopes of prolonging their Champions League adventure and Bruno Genesio’s men are also chasing a fourth league victory on the trot. —AFP