Paris: Monaco boosted hope of staying in Ligue 1 with a 2-0 home win over Amiens in penultimate round, while Paris Saint-Germain celebrated their already secured title by thrashing struggling Dijon 4-0 in the final home match of the season.
The 2017 league champions Monaco managed decent performance in the late stage of a sluggishing season as Radamel Falcao and Aleksandr Golovin found the net. Falcao headed Monaco in front from Golovin’s corner in the 26th minute, and Monaco sealed full points through Golovin’s low shot on a counter-attack with eight minutes from time on Saturday. Monaco leapfrog their opponents onto the 16th place, three points ahead of Caen in the playoff spot. A draw at Nice in the final round can secure Monaco’s top-flight status next season. Caen unsurprisingly lost 4-0 to Lyon, who were guided by Memphis Depay’s brace and goals from Maxwel Cornet and Moussa Dembele all in the second half. Lyon have confirmed their third position and next season’s Champions League qualifying round spot. If Premier League outfit Chelsea, already qualified for Champions League, won the Europa League title later this month, Lyon would directly enter group stage of the elite European club competition. Robert Beric’s brace earned Saint-Etienne a 3-0 win over Nice at home. Despite failing to move past Lyon with four-point deficit, Saint-Etienne have secured the fourth place themselves, meaning that they can participate in Europa League next term. PSG went up as early as three minutes into the match, when Angel Di Maria sent a curling shot deflect off one Dijon defender past goalkeeper Runar Alex Runarsson, and Edinson Cavani nodded his 18th league goal. (PTI)
