Monaco shore up second place with Nantes win

Monaco made a big step towards securing second place in Ligue 1 when goals by Radamel Falcao and Rony Lopes earned them a 2-1 comeback home victory against Nantes Saturday. The visitor went ahead through Adrien Thomasson but Falcao and Lopes struck in quick succession before the break to put the principality team on 70 points from 32 games, eight points ahead of Olympique de Marseille who take on Montpellier Sunday. Nantes are eighth on 44 points. Monaco next travel to Paris St Germain, who were held to a 1-1 draw at St Etienne Friday but will be crowned French champion if they prevail at the Parc des Princes next Sunday.

Well done boys! Congrats @FALCAO on your 50th goal in #Ligue1 ! ??⚽️ @AS_Monaco pic.twitter.com/F2RuezO6bK

— Stevan Jovetić (@sjovetic) April 7, 2018

At Louis II, Nantes took the lead on 32 minutes as Thomasson beat Danijel Subasic with a floating strike from outside the box but Monaco's firepower helped them to turn the situation around before the interval. Falcao volleyed home from Lopes' deflection in the 42nd minute and three minutes later the Portugal striker put the home side ahead with a curled shot on the turn after some excellent work by the Colombian. Monaco's Kamil Glik was lucky not to be sent off after he picked up only a yellow card for a rough challenge on Rene Krhin just before the hour. There were no more scares for Monaco, who extended their unbeaten run in Ligue 1 to 17 games.

D32 - Full-time scores pic.twitter.com/uOfZAT7pl2

— Ligue1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) April 7, 2018

RESULTS Monaco 2 (Falcao 42, Lopes 45) Nantes 1 (Thomasson 32) Amiens 3 (Dibassy 20, Gakpe 30, Konate 53) Caen 0 Angers 1 (Ekambi 6) Strasbourg 1 (Martin 70-P) Bordeaux 2 (Kamano 42, 45) Lille 1 (Mothiba 14) Guingamp 4 (Benezet 23, Blas 47, N'Gbakoto 79, Briand 90+2) Troyes 0 Toulouse 0 Dijon 1 (Kwon 10)   SUNDAY'S MATCHES Nice v Rennes, Metz v Lyon and Marseille v Montpellier   POINTS TABLE Teams P W D L GD Pts PSG 32 27 3 2 74 84 Monaco 32 21 7 4 43 70 Marseille 31 18 8 5 26 62 Lyon 31 17 9 5 28 60 Rennes 31 13 7 11 3 46 Montpellier 31 10 15 6 5 45