European Aspirants Monaco and Strasbourg Share Points After Dour Stalemate

The fiercely contested clash between AS Monaco and RC Strasbourg Alsace, both vying for European contention in Ligue 1, ended in a goalless draw, bringing an end to Les Monégasques’ impressive streak of six straight victories in their head-to-head encounters.

With Monaco in second place and Strasbourg in sixth, the teams were separated by a mere three points at kick-off.

Monaco showcased their attacking intent in the early stages, but both sides demonstrated solid defending. Andrew Omobamidele thwarted Mika Beireth’s attempt with a second effort, shortly before Christian Mawissa sprinted back to stop Emanuel Emegha.

The intensity remained high, and Maghnes Akliouche began to create chances, though he struggled to make clean contact with Caio Henrique’s free-kick delivery, resulting in a blocked shot and another that was saved.

Mamadou Sarr skilfully matched Breel Embolo’s pace to block the striker’s effort, while Doree Petrovic came in to recover the loose ball.

The goalkeeper played a vital role, getting a hand to Embolo’s attempted cross moments before Philipp Kohn denied Dilane Bakwa’s deflected delivery.

Biereth thought he had found the back of the net in the dying moments of the first half, converting after Petrovic deflected Henrique’s shot, but the home crowd’s excitement was quickly dashed as the left-back was adjudged offside.

After the restart, Omobamidele kept a close watch on Takumi Minamino, with the loanee picking up a yellow card only three minutes into the second half following a series of bookings in the first half.

Strasbourg finally managed their first attempt on target in the 66th minute when Valentin Barco shot over after receiving a pass from Diego Moreira, though the Argentine soon forced Köhn into action with a bold long-range effort.

Soungoutou Magassa then stole the ball from Barco and sent a perfect cross to Embolo, but Petrovic brilliantly tipped the striker’s header over the bar, while Denis Zakaria headed over from the subsequent corner.

Emegha found the net late on, but his celebrations were cut short when the goal was disallowed for offside. As a result, Monaco concluded their six-match home winning streak but still walked away with a point.

For Strasbourg, this match marks their second consecutive draw, and they will occupy fifth place in the Ligue 1 standings — at least for this evening.

Be sure to check out the match statistics here.