Axel Disasi scored on his AS Monaco debut to help the principality outfit come back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with his former club Stade de Reims in Niko Kovac's Ligue 1 Uber Eats coaching debut on Sunday.
THE MATCH
Reims boasted the best defence in Ligue 1 Uber Eats last season, but it was their attack that swept quickly into action at the Stade Louis II and threatened to give Kovac — appointed to replace Robert Moreno in the summer — a French top-flight bow to forget.
Boulaye Dia's pace took him clear of Benoît Badiashile and into the path of a flick-on — the Reims striker's low shot across Benjamin Lecomte was too good for the Monaco goalkeeper (5') and put the hosts on the back foot inside five minutes.
Worse was to come. Reims, who had started each of the last three league seasons away from home and won them all, doubled their lead despite having only 21% possession. When they had the ball, they made the most of it, and after Disasi and Badiashile hesitated, El Bilal Touré intercepted and fired beyond Lecomte (21').
⚽🏁 Final whistle! A very entertaining two halves of football 👏
Points shared between @AS_Monaco_EN & @StadeDeReims | #ASMSDR pic.twitter.com/HljD1chyxI
— Ligue1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) August 23, 2020
Aurélien Tchouameni diverted a Wissam ben Yedder miscue off the Reims crossbar (39') as Monaco sought some succour before the break — it came from new signing Disasi, who was unmarked when Tchouameni headed a Aleksandr Golovin corner into his path in the dying seconds of the half (45+2').
Monaco needed a sharp Lecomte to keep out Touré in a one-on-one duel (52') before they clawed their way back level. Another Golovin set-piece — this time a free-kick — arrived in the penalty area, and Badiashile connected well enough to beat Predrag Rajkovic in the Reims goal (55').
THE PLAYER: Aleksandr Golovin
The Russia international is now starting his third season in Monaco, and looks to have hit the ground running. His set-piece delivery caused chaos in a usually well-drilled Reims back four, and ultimately led to earning his team a point.
THE STAT: 11
Monaco have scored in their last 11 league matches — only Paris (20 games) have done better of the current top-flight teams.
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