Kenyan midfielder unused as title-chasing Monaco overcome 10-man Brest

STARS ABROAD Kenyan midfielder unused as title-chasing Monaco overcome 10-man Brest

Mark Kinyanjui 21:20 - 05.11.2023

The tenacious midfielder was unused as Monaco beat Brest to keep tabs on league leaders PSG.

Kenyan midfielder Eliot Matazo was an unused substitute as Monaco overcame 10-man Brest 2-0 in a Ligue 1 match played at the Stade Louis II stadium on Sunday.

Beaten at Lille last time out, Monaco knew a win would take them into second place in the table, a point behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain and ahead of Côte d'Azur rivals Nice before their game along the coast against Rennes later in the day.

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Brest had lost their last two - albeit to Lille and PSG - and had seen their Stade Francis Le Blé devastated by Storm Ciaran in midweek. The visitors from Brittany were clearly enjoying the Mediterranean sunshine, however, and thought they had gone ahead early on but Jérémy Le Douaron's strike was ruled out by VAR, who spotted a Pierre Lees-Melou foul on Folarin Balogun in the build-up (11').

There was no such reprieve for Eric Roy's men when Golovin sent a corner over and Zakaria got to the ball ahead of goalkeeper Marco Bizot to head home (16') his first Ligue 1 Uber Eats goal.

VAR also decided a Krépin Diatta challenge on Le Douaron did not warrant a spot-kick (20') before Balogun then had a strike ruled out for offside (25') and Lilian Brassier was denied at the opposite end for the same reason (27') as the officials were the busiest people on the pitch.

Another Brest penalty claim for a Diatta foul on Le Douaron was waved away once more before the Brest forward was forced off the pitch through injury before the break (41') to blunt the visitors' attack.

Golovin took matters into his own hands to put Monaco firmly in control with 21 minutes left. Youssouf Fofana brought the ball down smartly on the right before cutting the ball back to Golovin, who fired home his fifth league goal of the season to give Fofana his third assist of the campaign (69').

Matazo, whose mother is Kenyan, has represented Belgium at u21 level, but could feature for Kenyan at senior level should he decide to.

He has featured six times for Monaco this season, all as a substitute.