Giroud stuns Monaco at the death
After a tense and nervy game -- but not one lacking in quality -- LOSC Lille stunned AS Monaco with a stoppage time goal from the former French international to pick up a 1-0 win to close out Matchday Two in Ligue 1 McDonald's. Read more about the weekend's biggest match in our recap.
An end-to-end first half
After a comfortable win over Le Havre at home last weekend, Adi Hütter took his side on the road to face a Lille side who had played out a nervy draw against Brest to open the season. The visitors made just one change, bringing in Folarin Balogun to lead the line while Lille brought in Ayyoub Bouaddi and Thomas Meunier. The visitors had the bit between their teeth from the off, but Maghnes Akliouche was denied by Berke Özer before Balogun missed getting a header on target from the Frenchman's dipping cross. Akliouche was away on the counter again (17') but again Özer was sharp, traveling a long way to take the ball off of his feet.
Lille were living dangerously, but it would be Monaco's turn to breathe a sigh of relief as Haakon Haraldsson fired wide after beating the offside flag (21'). Level at the break, the match continued to be a knockdown affair into the second, but chances were rather more scarce. Giroud had a fine volley skew wide, but neither team could successfully break the other's resistance.
Lille takes a late win thanks to Giroud! 🐶✅ pic.twitter.com/p9D54KvBEn
— Ligue 1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) August 24, 2025
Giroud to the rescue
Despite his 38 years of age, Giroud was still on the pitch as the match entered added time still scoreless. On the counter, a long ball came to Matias Fernandez-Pardo, and the Belgian winger squared it for Giroud, who controlled and slammed the ball in under the bar on the turn, putting his team aside with his 350th goal as a professional.
He then had a chance to double the lead in the ninth minute of added time, but blazed a penalty over the bar, missing a chance to go top of the scoring charts. Now fifth with the result, Lille are next in action Saturday against Lorient, while Monaco face Strasbourg on Sunday -- both sides will also be keeping a close eye on their respective European draws, which will be made later this week.
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