Daily Times

PARIS: Monaco rallied from two goals down to salvage a point in a 2-2 home draw against Stade de Reims in their first game under new coach Nico Kovac in Ligue 1 on Sunday. Hoping to find some stability after using five coaches in two years, Monaco found themselves trailing 2-0 after 21 minutes following goals by Boulaye Dia and El Bilal Toure.

But Axel Disasi and Benoit Badiashile, who both had a catastrophic start in central defence, scored either way of the interval as Monaco stepped up a gear. Angers, the only team with a win so far, are the early leaders after the 2020-2021 started on Friday. There was no Ligue 1 matches for five months as the 2019-2020 season was abandoned because of the COVID-19 crisis.

Dia outpaced Badiashile and beat Benjamin Lecomte with a low crossed shot in the fifth minute to give the visitors an early advantage. The visitors doubled the tally 16 minutes later when Toure made the most of a defensive misunderstanding between Disasi and Badiashile. Monaco, however, pulled one back on the stroke of halftime as Disasi headed home from point blank range.

The hosts equalised 10 minutes into the second half when Badiashile netted with an angled shot from Aleksandr Golovin’s free kick.

Champions Paris St Germain and Olympique Lyonnais’s respective season-openers were postponed after both teams reached the Champions League semi-final. Olympique de Marseille’s home game against St Etienne, which was scheduled for Friday, was postponed after four OM players tested positive for the coronavirus.