Kovac Starts Monaco Reign With Reims Comeback Draw

2 Min Read

Monaco rallied from two goals down to salvage a point in a 2-2 home draw against Stade de Reims in Ligue 1 on Sunday.

SEE ALSO: Di Maria free-kick earns PSG comeback win in French Super Cup

It was their first game under new coach Nico Kovac, a former coach of Bayern Munich.

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 Ligue 1 season 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 half-time 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 (PSG) and Olympique Lyonnais are not playing their respective season-openers for now.

They were postponed after both teams reached the UEFA Champions League semi-finals.

PSG will face Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League final later on Sunday, while Lyon lost on Wednesday to Bayern Munich in the semi-finals.

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.

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