By A. Scott
Nabil Fekir was on target again as Olympique Lyonnais cruised to a 3-0 win over Thierry Henry’s AS Monaco, who ended Sunday’s game at the Groupama Stadium with 10 men.
Olympique Lyonnais 3 – 0 AS Monaco 
THE MATCH
Lyon coach Bruno Genesio was hoping any tiredness from his team’s midweek trip to Ukraine would be cancelled out by the enormous boost of qualifying for the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League thanks to their draw with Shakhtar Donetsk. He named an unchanged starting line-up for this meeting with a Monaco side who bowed out of European competition with a 2-0 home loss at the hands of Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday.
The home side duly got off to a perfect start, taking the lead just six minutes in. Fekir found Bertrand Traoré, whose ball across goal with the outside of his left boot was palmed out by Diego Benaglio, allowing Houssem Aouar to follow in and score his sixth Ligue 1 Conforama goal of the campaign.
There were one or two tentative signs of life from Monaco, who Henry had sent out with a three-man central defence and with the returning Aleksandr Golovin playing off Radamel Falcao in attack.
However, Lyon had chances to double their lead, notably when Traoré forced a good save from Benaglio with a low strike just before the half-hour mark. And their second goal arrived soon after in some style.
A stunning pass by Jason Denayer took out Benjamin Henrichs, and Kenny Tete did brilliantly to cut the ball back from the byline for Fekir to finish first-time on his right foot. It was just a third league goal of the season for the Lyon captain, but his second goal in five days after he grabbed the crucial equaliser against Shakhtar in the snow in Kiev.
Golovin sees red after VAR review
Monaco needed a response at the start of the second half, but instead their hopes of a comeback were killed off when Aleksandr Golovin was sent off in the 48th minute. He had caught Fekir, his studs raking down the Lyon skipper’s calf, just moments after the restart. Referee Clément Turpin produced the red card after reviewing footage of the foul.
It was all about damage limitation after that for the visitors, and Benaglio made a great save to tip a Denayer header onto the post (50′), but the third goal did eventually come. Tete claimed another assist as his cross from the right found Mendy, the left-back attacking the ball and planting a header into the far corner.
A first win in five games in all competitions for Lyon leaves them just three points behind second-placed LOSC with a game in hand, while Monaco remain in the relegation zone. Henry’s team have a massive game to come next weekend at home to bottom side EA Guingamp.
THE PLAYER: Kenny Tete
There were plenty of encouraging performances in the Lyon side but Tete deserves a mention. The Dutchman had not made a single Ligue 1 Conforama appearance this season until the 4-2 win at Guingamp last month but now looks to have made the right-back position his own. With Rafael out injured for up to three months and Léo Dubois only just getting back to full fitness, Tete was excellent against Shakhtar in midweek and again here, claiming assists for his side’s second and third goals.
THE STAT: 8
Henry has now lost eight of his 12 games in charge of Monaco, claiming just seven points from a possible 24 in the league. Monaco had suffered eight defeats in 12 matches in all competitions before Henry had been appointed.
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