French leader Monaco plays 30 minutes with 10 men in 0-0 draw with Lille

PARIS (AP) — French league leader Monaco was held to a 0-0 draw at home to Lille on Friday after making life difficult for itself by having to play the last half hour with 10 men.

One of the form sides in France this year, Monaco is unbeaten in all competitions and has 20 points from eight games — three more points than defending champion Paris Saint-Germain, which hosts Strasbourg on Saturday.

In addition to six wins and two draws in the league this season, the club from the principality is now unbeaten in its last 11 home games in the French league — its longest such run since August 2018.

The scrappy match rarely threatened to catch fire with goal opportunities few and far between for both sides.

In the first half, Jordan Teze had the best chance for Monaco but he fired over the bar from close range.

The Dutch defender’s night went from bad to worse after an hour when he was shown a red card for a clumsy challenge on Gabriel Gudmundsson.

Denis Zakaria should have secured all three points for Monaco in stoppage time but goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier did well to turn his shot around the post after a quick counterattack.

Lille is in fourth place with 14 points from eight matches.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer