Sunday, August 25, 2013

Fan free Monaco held to goalless draw

Monaco's Radamel Falcao battles for the ball in front of empty stands in their home match against Toulouse.

(CNN) -- Big spending Monaco paid the price for the indiscretion of their fans last season when held to a goalless draw by Toulouse in Ligue 1 Friday.

Claudio Ranieri's men were playing in an empty Stade Louis II Stadium as punishment for scenes at their final home game of the 2012/13 campaign when flares where thrown and the pitch invaded.

Lacking atmosphere, Monaco's players could find no inspiration after 2-0 wins over Bordeaux and a 4-1 thumping of Montpellier in their opening matches.

Emmanuel Riviere, scorer of four goals in those games, and big money signing Radamel Falcao drew blank, but the former did go close twice against his old side in the first half.

A shot from Jeremy Toulalan which struck the crossbar late on was the closest Monaco came to scoring but they will top the French standings ahead of the weekend fixtures.

Read: Dortmund beat Bayern to claim German Super Cup

Monaco were taken over by Russian billionaire Dmitriy Rybolovlev and his cash injection saw them promoted from Ligue 2 to become one of the favorites for the title this term after bringing in a clutch of star players, including Falcao from Atletico Madrid.

Rybolovlev was among the few people allowed to watch Friday night as well as Monaco's Prince Albert, who saw a game played out in a surreal atmosphere.

Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund went three points clear at the top of the Bundesliga with a 1-0 home win over Werder Bremen.

Last season's Champions League finalists made it three wins from three games thanks to a goal from prolific Poland striker Robert Lewandowski.

He met Marco Reus's cross in the 55th minute to score the only goal of the game.

Bundesliga and European champions Bayern Munich can draw level on points with a win over Nuremberg Saturday.

Dortmund had the better of the match from the start, inflicting Bremen's first defeat under new coach Robin Dutt.


Via: Fan free Monaco held to goalless draw

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