Flavien Tait hit an early opener for Rennes in this European crunch clash at Roazhon Park on Friday night, but Monaco held their nerve and fought back to take all three points, Brazilian winger Vanderson standing out with a goal and an assist in the thoroughly entertaining display.

'Very proud of my players'

"It's not easy to bounce back when you concede an early goal here, but we stayed calm and I'm very proud of my players for that, because we talked about it a lot together in the last weeks. We stayed in the game and that shows that the team is growing," said Clément, for whom Wissam Ben Yedder and Myron Boadu also got on the scoresheet. "We are on a five-game winning streak in the last six games, including one in Marseille, against Paris and here in Rennes. Now, the most important thing will be to remain calm, ambitious and not to be satisfied with that because we still have six finals until the end of the championship."

Indeed, Monaco's form under Clément has seen them climb the table and Friday's win sent them into provisional fourth place, six points shy of Marseille in the automatic Champions League place (second). AS Monaco are absolutely in the mix for a return to European action next season, but Clément knows it won't be easy.

'This proves the level of Ligue 1'

"There are still about ten teams that can claim a place in European, and therefore many 'finals' to be contested. This proves the level of Ligue 1, with many quality teams," noted the Belgian. "We will have to confirm our good performances from recent weeks in order to finish as high as possible on the table."

Monaco's next opportunity to claim points in the race for Europe comes on Wednesday night when they take on derby and European rivals Nice in their Round 33 clash at the Stade Louis II.


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