After Bordeaux-Nantes (0-0), Dijon - Angers (0-1) and Lille - Rennes (1-1), the day before, four Ligue 1 matches took place this Sunday afternoon on the occasion of the 1st day of the French Championship.
Monaco sealed then ... saved by its central defenders
For the first time on the bench of its new Croatian coach Niko Kovac (ex-Bayern Munich), Monaco went through all the states against Reims. The Rémois tortured the duo of opposing central defenders, Disasi-Badiashile, who collided with the second goal signed Touré (21st), coming after that of Dia (5th). But on two set pieces, Disasi (45th), recruited for 15 million euros in Reims, and Badiashile redeemed themselves to allow a dominating Monaco team (75% possession) to snatch the draw (2- 2). Ben Yedder hit the bar (75th).
"The reaction was good, the players saw that nothing should be let go and that nothing was impossible," Kovac analyzes.
Merling, the enchanter of Nîmes
It is undoubtedly one of the men of this first day of L1. Recruited this summer for 1 million euros from Rosenborg, Birger Merling, the Norwegian left-back made a resounding debut against Brest with an assist for Kévin Denkey (8th) and a goal from a skylight shot (31st ). Philippoteaux (69th) and Koné (84th) gave the appearance of a festival to the success of Nîmes (4-0) against an outdated Brest team. "Some are in hiding," laments Olivier Dall'Oglio, the Brest coach.
Smaller budget of L1 (40 million euros), Nîmes finds itself first leader. Ironically, this first match almost did not play out because of the four cases of Covid-19 which affect the Nîmes workforce (Nazih, Briançon, Despres, Roux).
Lorient takes care of his return
Three years after leaving it, Lorient returned to L1 with great success against Strasbourg (3-1). If Chahiri, the former Red Star (National) had opened the scoring for the first game of his career in L1, the players of Christophe Pélissier dominated the second period and scored by Wissa (51st), Grbic (60th), more expensive transfer of club history (10 million euros) and Hamel (87th). "The L1, the club has been waiting for three years, some since they were very young, now that we are there, we must bite into it with full teeth," said Christophe Pélissier.
Gouiri, remarkable debut with Nice
Transferred this summer for 7 million euros from Lyon where he has never been established in L1, Amine Gouiri (20) did not miss his debut against Lens. After the opening of the score on a penalty kick from Kakuta (11th), the French international in all categories of young people, managed two beautiful curling strikes (23rd, 75th). A saving double for Nice, who had decided to play behind closed doors, rather sluggish in the face of a domineering lensois promotion. "It's not a revenge compared to Lyon and the choices of the coach, but I was keen to play in L1, Nice is a team that suits me well," says Gouiri.