Paris: Rony Lopes struck a dramatic late winner as Monaco recovered from two goals down and overcame the first-half dismissal of Keita Balde to stun Lyon 3-2 in Ligue 1 on Sunday.
Mariano Diaz scored a 12th-minute opener for Lyon at the Stade Louis II as his deflected shot from distance deceived Monaco goalkeeper Danijel Subasic, who hobbled off injured after tangling with the net.
Lyon doubled their lead before the half-hour as Bertrand Traore, making his first league start since early November, volleyed in at the near post past replacement keeper Seydou Sy.
But Senegal international Balde held off a succession of defenders before rifling in a low angled drive to halve the deficit just three minutes later.
Radamel Falcao then equalised on 36 minutes when he converted the rebound after seeing his penalty, awarded for a foul on Kamil Glik, saved initially by Anthony Lopes.
It took the Colombian to 17 league goals for the season — trailing only Paris Saint-Germain duo Edinson Cavani (21) and Neymar (18).
But Monaco were reduced to 10 men on the stroke of half-time as Balde, booked moments earlier for kicking away the ball in frustration, was shown a second yellow card for a nasty foul on Ferland Mendy.
The hosts then lost captain Falcao to a thigh injury 10 minutes into the second half, but it was his replacement Stevan Jovetic who set up Portugal international Lopes for the winning goal a minute from time.
Lyon conceded possession cheaply inside their own half, and the Montenegrin striker rolled the ball into the path of Lopes who drilled into the far corner to complete a sensational turnaround and help avenge last month’s 3-2 loss in the French Cup.
“It was a very tough match. We conceded two goals far too early, we lost two players to injury and had a man sent off, everything was against us,” Lopes said.
“But we showed we are a strong team and we deserved to win on the basis of the second half. It’s our best match in terms of solidarity, but not in quality. We showed that we’re a real team.”
The result bumped Monaco up to third, one point behind Marseille, while Lyon finished the weekend a point outside the Champions League places in fourth after dropping from second.
“It was a sin not to have won tonight,” Lyon coach Bruno Genesio said. “Even worse to lose after the way we started. We had a really good start but then we practically stopped playing when we were 2-0 ahead.”
Results
Ligue 1
Friday
Marseille 6, Metz 3
Saturday
Lille 0, PSG 3
Strasbourg 0, Bordeaux 2
Troyes vs. Dijon
Nice 0, Toulouse 1
Montpellier 2, Angers 1
Amiens 0, Saint-Etienne 2
Sunday
Rennes 0, Guingamp 1
Caen 3, Nantes 2
Monaco 3, Lyon 2
