“I’m glad to see Golovin wearing the captain’s armband!” The best game by a Russian this season
Mikhail Georgiev September 17, 2023, 16:55 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
And Benjamin Mendy returned to football after 763 days.
Matchday 5 of the French Championship began with the defeat of PSG. Monaco has an excellent chance to pull away from the Ligue 1 favorite not by two, but by five points. The rival of Alexander Golovin’s team this time was “Lorient”, a middle peasant who last season finished in tenth place, and after four rounds of the current one he was in 12th place.
It is true that Monaco’s away game started in a discouraging manner. Less than two minutes passed before Lorient opened the scoring. 93 seconds is the fastest goal so far this season in the French Championship. Striker Ayegun Tosin faced the goalkeeper and shot accurately. The forward thanked his teammate so much for his assistance that he kissed his boot (this is not figurative, but in reality he put Eli Crupi’s foot on his knee and kissed his teammate’s shoe).
It didn’t take long for Monaco to return. In the 17th minute, Golovin was almost one on one and got into the top nine, although he was pushed from behind. The Russian scored in the second consecutive game for Monaco. On the last day he scored against Lens.
The guests looked better throughout the game. They had more ball possession (59% – 41%) and more shots on goal (20:10). Golovin, as usual, positioned himself on the left flank of the attack and in the 49th minute could have scored the second goal, but he shot from the area much higher. And then a significant event occurred in Alexander’s career.
Alejandro Golovin
Photo: Monaco FC
In the 66th minute, Monaco made a triple change. Team captain Wissam Ben Yedder also left the field. The bandage was passed from hand to hand. It seemed like the players didn’t quite understand who they should give it to, and in the end they gave it to Golovin. He captained Monaco for the first time in an official match. Previously, he only wore the armband in a friendly match.
Only three minutes passed and Golovin, in his new status, gave an assist to Folarin Balogun: the former Arsenal striker scored in the debut match. It seemed like this dance would be the winner. And the highlight at the end of the match was the appearance of Benjamin Mendy: the footballer entered the field for the first time in an official match after prison. 763 days had passed since their previous match. However, in the last minute of added time, Lorient equalized. Romain Febvre scored 90+8.
Thus, Lorient already took points from both PSG and Monaco at the beginning of the season. However, after the game, many fans still celebrated Golovin, who scored and assisted, on social media.
“I’m glad to see Golovin wearing the captain’s armband!” – wrote one of the users under the nickname VladTSTB.
What else is worth paying attention to at the French Championship?
A strange transfer for the PSG star. Instead of Saudi Arabia, he was sent to another Asian league.
