In this top-flight match between Montpellier and Juvisy, the MHSC players came to win 2 goals to 1 in the Essonne. A victory that allows Montpellier to relegate Juvisy to six points after this game, a gap already significant in the race for the Champions League.

For this fifth day, two of the four contenders for Europe this season were together on Saturday night in Bondoufle. Juvisy welcomed Montpellier in a match where neither team wanted to be won, especially for Juvisy who was already three points behind the podium before tonight's match.

Last year, the match between the two teams had already been a turning point in the season, with a 2-1 victory of Montpellier and a scenario that had left regrets to Juvisy. After the match, the Juv 'was relegated to fourth place, far from the race to Europe between Montpellier and Paris in the wake of Olympique Lyonnais.

Two teams in shape
This Saturday, the teams could approach the meeting with confidence, undefeated Montpellier and no goal conceded since the beginning of the season while Juvisy out of a brilliant 10-0 on the lawn of Rodez. An offensive festival that convinced Emmanuel Beauchet to align the same offensive quartet as last week with Clara Mateo associated with the trio Catala-Thiney-Diani, now also meeting in selection with the Blue. On the side of Montpellier, the Hérault team saw the return of its captain Linda Sembrant lined up in central defense alongside Laura Agard.

The start of the match set the tone for the evening with two teams that took time to find the opening goal. During the first half-hour, it was difficult to find goal chances on either side, with defenses that often outweighed the opposing attempts. On the Montpellier side, it's hard to get the upper hand in the corridors with Sakina Karchaoui and Marion Torrent, who have watched the grain against the accelerations of Mateo, Diani and Catala.

On Juvisy's side, it was sometimes felt that on attack balloons, speed of transmission, spontaneity, first-intention balloons may have failed. Gestures that go with the risk of more waste in the game, but that was perhaps one of the keys to surprise a well-organized Montpellier team defensively.

For the MHSC, the solution did not come either in the game. To note, only A head of Sofia Jakobsson (22) in the six meters came to answer a shot without framing of Clara Matéo in the 16th minute. In these conditions, we felt that the game would be played to a detail. And shortly before half an hour, this "detail" was a shock between Aissatou Tounkara and Marie Charlotte-Léger full axis before the surface of Juvisy. The referee of the meeting does not hesitate and whistles foul in favor of Montpellier. A "generous" free-kick for Juvisy's coach, Emmanuel Beauchet, who will change the game. Sandie Toletti takes the shot and sends the ball to the right of goal Juvisy, a shot that deceives Céline Deville after bouncing six meters (29th).

An important goal for Sandie Toletti and as a symbol for a player who takes more and more responsibilities in the game and on set pieces, regularly involved at the outset of offensive actions in Montpellier in addition to his work to recover the ball.

After this goal, the match did not seem to be unblocked or change of physiognomy. Initially positioned on the left, Clara Mateo is placed in the axis, changing position with Camille Catala but nothing helps, Juvisy does not find the solution while Montpellier must be content with a half-volley shot above from the bar of Laëtitia Tonazzi (41st). At the break, we say that this game seems far from being played.

The good move of Montpellier after the locker room
The second half starts without changes on either side. If Juvisy strikes the first corner after the restart, Montpellier quickly doubles the bet. In the 49th minute, 20-meter Laëtitia Tonazzi resisted Annaïg Butel and managed to slip the ball for Sofia Jakobsson into the box. On her first touch, the Swedish striker manages to avoid the intervention of Julie Soyer and Théa Greboval. Facing the goal, she only has to adjust Céline Deville closely and score his sixth goal of the season with Montpellier.

The break is made for the Hérault girls while Juvisy had not yet found answers to the first goal of the MHSC. The rest is difficult for the Juv 'with a strike from Diani in the wake (50th), but that sounds more like a reaction of pride than a real revolt. Some attempts not framed for Juvisy and especially a game more and more chopped, more and more mistakes, sometimes on the verge of the unsportsmanlike and a referee who distributes the yellow cards, while the coaches make them changes.

Among the duels of this match, we particularly enjoyed the match between Kadidiatou Diani and Sakina Karchaoui, the two international lights that did not loose the whole game with phases of play that have turned in favor of one or the other. another, but always with a tremendous intensity and for once always in a good spirit between the two players.

Kadidiatou Diani is also the one by whom hope returned within a few seconds but too late to change the course of the meeting. Because late in the game, Juvisy will have some situations, helped by the entry of Tatiana Coleman (instead of Camille Catala) who missed the frame in the 88th minute. In stoppage time, a center from Julie Soyer reaches the surface, and if Coleman can not take the ball, it forces Marion Torrent to return the ball to Kadidiatou Diani who then scored with a volley of the right (93).

Moments after Diani's goal as the Juvisy players quickly moved back, the referee whistled the end of the match, just after the start and the win came back to Montpellier. 2-1, what will Juvisy have missed? not much, but like last year, the scenario of the match finally smiled in Montpellier which continues to look up, and the next floor arrives at the end of the international truce with a new trip to the Paris region at the end of October, this time on the lawn of Paris Saint-Germain.

Photo: Nelson Fatagraf