PARIS: Brest came from behind to take a dramatic 4-3 win at home to struggling Metz on Sunday to shore up their second place in Ligue 1, while AS Monaco ground out a victory over Rennes to move back into third and one point behind Brest.

Brest are 10 points behind leaders Paris St-Germain but four poi­n­ts clear of Lille, who lie just outside the automatic Champions Le­a­gue qualification spots in fourth.

“After going behind, we came back with some good football. And then there was that last quarter of an hour... but it was a good lesson to learn,” said Brest coach Eric Roy.

“We can’t relax too much, and we have to keep our wits about us right to the end. We saw the best and the worst of Brest, but in the end we won.”

Ismael Traore gave the visitors an early lead but Brest hit back with goals from Brendan Chardonnet, Kamory Doumbia and Steve Mounie giving them a 3-1 cushion at half-time.

Martin Satriano added a fourth on the hour to make a home win appear a certainty.

Metz, who are second-bottom five points from safety, hit back, however, with two goals in six minutes from Georges Mikautadze making it a nervous final 10 minutes for Brest.

Meanwhile, Monaco exte­nded their unbeaten run in Ligue 1 to six games with a 1-0 win over Rennes at the Stade Louis II, when both teams had a player sent off and the home side moved back into third place thanks to Maghnes Akliouche’s goal.

The first half was full of attacking promise from both sides but the only goal came in the 25th mi­n­ute when Ismail Jakobs pulled the ball back towards the penalty spot to Akliouche whose shot found the bottom corner of the net.

The opening minute after the break brought a red card for Rennes forward Martin Terrier for a dangerous foul on Aklio­uche, but less than 20 minutes later Monaco also went down to 10 men when Thilo Kehrer was shown his second yellow card.

The visitors had chances to level the game, with Monaco kee­per Radoslaw Majecki pulling off a fine save at full stretch from Ludovic Blas, and the home side held on to take all three points.

Rennes are ninth on 39 points after their second consecutive league loss, in a week which also brought defeat in the Coupe de France semi-final when they lost 1-0 at PSG on Wednesday.

Elsewhere, Montpellier put distance between themselves and the relegation play-off spot with a 2-0 win at home to Lorient.

The win takes Montpellier to 13th place and six points clear of Lor­­i­ent in the play-off spot of 16th.

OGC Nice dropped further away from the Champions League spots with a 0-0 draw at Reims and Toulouse also played out a goalless draw at home to RC Strasbourg.

Goals in the final 15 minutes by Alexandre Lacazette, Malick Fofana and Gift Orban gave Olympique Lyonnais a 3-1 win at Nantes after they fell behind to Matthis Abline’s 16th-minute opener, leaving the hosts just two points above the relegation zone.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2024