Tag: Elderson Echiejile

By Uchenna Ajah

Super Eagles left-back Elderson Echiejile was missing in action in Saturday’s Ligue 1 clash between Lorient and Monaco which ended in a 2-2 draw at Stade du Moustoir.

The hosts made the better start of the two sides and could have surged ahead as early as the fourth minute through Vincent Aboubakar, who turned his marker inside the Monaco box but failed to get his effort on target from a narrow angle.

However, eight minutes later Aboubakar did put Lorient in the lead when he headed home Kevin Monnet-Paquet’s cross from the right flank.

Christian Gourcuff’s side continued to dominate proceedings as the first half progressed, with Alain Traore and Aboubakar both going close.

However, Monaco stepped up their game in the final 15 minutes of the first period, as James Rodriguez and Fabinho created chances to restore parity.

Then with four minutes left for the half-time interval, Valere Germain equalised for Claudio Ranieri’s team when he shot home from outside the box with the aid of a slight deflection and the post.

The first-half pattern continued after the interval as hosts Lorient were the better side in the opening minutes, with Jeremie Aliadiere, Gregory Bourillon and Traore all having chances to restore their lead.

Monaco created two chances in a minute around the hour mark through Rodriguez and Emmanuel Riviere, before Joao Moutinho saw his long-range shot saved by Florent Chaigneau.

Lorient did eventually make it 2-1 on 73 minutes. Monaco goalkeeper Danijel Subasic kept out a shot from distance, but it fell to Aboubakar, who played a low cross to Aliadiere to slam home from close range.

The home team could have added to their tally through Aboubakar, but Monaco rescued a point with just three minutes left on the clock when Layvin Kurzawa fired home after being released by Lucas Ocampos.

Super Eagles left-back, Elderson Echiejile made his AS Monaco debut in Wednesday’s 3-0 win against Ludovic Giuly’s fourth-tier Chasselay in the Round of 32 clash.

The encounter saw Monaco coach Claudio Ranieri sending out a strong side for the tie, which was played at Lyon’s Stade Municipal de Gerland with Falcao leading the attack line, although there was a rare start in goal for Argentina’s Sergio Romero.

Echiejile and his new pals at Monaco took their time to settle but opened the scoring in the 29th minute when Falcao tapped in his 11th goal for Monaco after Valère Germain had nodded down a cross by Yannick Ferreira Carrasco.

However, Falcao’s replacement at the start of the second half, Emmanuel Rivière, helped seal victory with a brace.

First, Rivière rolled into an empty net just after the hour mark after Chasselay ‘keeper Daniel Jaccard had made a terrible hash of dealing with a simple ball through the middle. Then, after Romero had saved well from Giuly, Rivière converted a centre from fellow substitute Nabil Dirar – making his first appearance of the season – to make it 3-0.