Monaco beat Brest to take second place in Ligue 1

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The Normandy team dropped into the bottom three in their place. AFP

Japan's Takumi Minamino was on target as Monaco beat Brest 2-0 away in Ligue 1 on Sunday to climb above their opponents into second place in the table and close in on a return to the Champions League.

Swiss midfielder Denis Zakaria gave Monaco the lead in Brittany with a fine curling strike just before half-time and Minamino got their second goal shortly after the restart. Monaco then held on for the victory despite having both Eliesse Ben Seghir and Wilfried Singo sent off in stoppage time.

A third straight win for the principality side leaves them primed to go on and secure automatic qualification for next season's Champions League, a competition they have not graced since 2018/19. They are two points above Brest and eight points behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain, who host Lyon later.

Also on Sunday, Lille bounced back from their midweek Europa Conference League exit on penalties to Aston Villa and strengthened their grip on fourth position by beating Strasbourg 1-0. Canada's Jonathan David scored the only goal of the game to take his tally in Ligue 1 this season to 17.

The team finishing fourth will enter next season's Champions League in the preliminary rounds. Jordan's Mousa Al-Tamari netted a late winner as Montpellier won 2-1 at Reims, while Metz moved out of the relegation zone by winning 1-0 at Le Havre. The Normandy team dropped into the bottom three in their place.