The home stretch of the season is approaching and Strasbourg is looking more and more like a credible candidate for the Champions League. Against Monaco this Sunday, the Alsatians signed a deserved victory (1-0) and find themselves provisionally third in Ligue 1 while waiting for the matches with Rennes and OM. A week after their victory in Marseille (1-0), ASM was unable to follow up against an opponent who was superior to them.
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Without multiplying the opportunities, Strasbourg took the advantage thanks to Alexander Djiku, author of a magnificent acrobatic return at close range after a corner from Frédéric Guilbert (23rd). Racing had the opportunity to take cover but Alexander Nübel intervened on a shot from Sanjin Prcic (57th) and Ludovic Ajorque found the top of the bar from a corner (64th). Without consequence. Because apart from failed attempts by Jean Lucas (32nd) and Myron Boadu (74th), Julien Stéphan’s men did not concede anything.
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The end of the Angevin season promises to be more eventful than expected. Against Reims, the SCO conceded a seventh defeat in a row (0-1) and is only three points ahead of the barrage. The SCO however evolved for almost an hour in numerical superiority after the exclusion of Anastasios Donis (34th). But he never managed to catch up with the new gross error of Danijel Petkovic, who conceded the opener on an easy shot from Alexis Flips (24th).
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Even at ten, Reims could have made the break by Ghislain Konan (40th) and especially Mitchell van Bergen (68th). The Champenois ended up backing down and miraculously got away with a triple opportunity from Angevin at the end of the match. The SCO stumbled on Predrag Rajkovic, then on the bar and finally on Yunis Abdelhamid (84th). On the corner that followed, Marin Jakolis still found the crossbar (85th). The exclusion of Vincent Manceau in the 90th extinguished all hope of a return.
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For the first time this season, Lorient has had two away successes. Visiting Clermont, the Bretons made a perfect move in the fight to maintain (2-0). As often in recent weeks, Ibrahima Koné unblocked the situation off the bench (72nd). In the process, Léo Petrot doubled the bet on a lucky goal (76th). With 27 points, the Hakes come out of the red zone and return to a length of their opponent of the day.
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The Clermontois had however dominated most of the match. Jason Berthomier had caused a first scare (17th) then Lucas Da Cunha found the post (38th). But as often, the promoted have paid cash for their mistakes. Johan Gastien lost a very expensive ball on the opener. Then unfortunately deflected the free kick which allowed Petrot to kill the meeting.
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Traveling to Metz, RC Lens failed to bounce back after their defeat against Brest on the last day. The Sang et Or came up against a very solid Lorraine block in a closed match (0-0). The Garnets could even have won if Kévin N’Doram had been more precise (60th) and if Wuilker Farinez had not slammed the powerful free kick from Pape Matar Sarr (67th).
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