Ligue 1, Round 19, 15/01/2023
On his return to the starting XI, Wissam Ben Yedder ran riot against a poor AC Ajaccio, as AS Monaco won 7-1 at the Stade Louis II to move up to fourth in the Ligue 1 standings.
The writing was on the wall early-on. Axel Disasi opened the scoring beofre the second minute, tapping in from close-range. Les Monégasques doubled their lead just five minutes later. This time it was Krépin Diatta who finished from close-range from a Ben Yedder pass across goal.
The Corsican side alluded to a resistance when they halved the home side’s lead just miutes later. Youcef Belaïli converting after Cyrille Bayala had done well to win the ball deep in Monaco’s half. That was as good as it got for Ajaccio, who would concede three more goals before half-time.
It was Ben Yedder with all three of them. The 14-minute hat-trick, the last of which was converted from the spot, makes him join third-highest scorer in Monaco history with 89 goals. In the second-half, it became a question of how many. Breel Embolo scored just 133 seconds after coming off the bench, and should have doubled his acocunt from close-range minutes later, but he blazed over. The Swiss stirker did double his lead late-on, showing composure to chip past Benjamin Leroy when 1-v-1.
AS Monaco player ratings
Alexander Nübel – 5
Caio Henrique – 6
Guillermo Maripán – 6
Axel Disasi – 7 – Untroubled defensively, but showed a nice range of passing and importantly socred the first goal of the rout, showing good positioning to finish on the rebound. The key element of
Vanderson – 7
Youssouf Fofana – 5
Mohamed Camara – 6
Aleksandr Golovin – 7
Eliesse Ben Seghir – 7 – Another sparkling performance from the 17-year-old, who was once again efficient in tight areas in the final third, and was steadfast in the press, notably helping Monaco recover the ball deep in Ajaccio’s half for Ben Yedder’s first goal.
Krépin Diatta – 8 – One of Diatta’s best performances in red and white. Since his reocvery from a severe ACL injury, he has showed flashes of brilliance, but never managed to consistently produce throughout a match. The Senegalese international looked dangerous throughout against Ajaccio. He got Monaco’s second goal in the seventh minute, earned the foul for the pnealty, and set-up Embolo for the sixth goal. The statistics were a reward for a performance where he was dangerous both on and off the ball.
Wissam Ben Yedder – 9 – Ben Seghir has replaced Ben Yedder in the starting line-up for the last two Ligue 1 matches, but starting alongside his young compatriot, he made his return felt. His 14-minute hat-trick saw him become the club’s joint third-highest goalscorer.
Others: Matazo (5), Embolo (7), Jakobs (5)
GFFN | Luke Entwistle
