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Brazilian hotshot Fred made a sensational debut for Lyon on Saturday, scoring both goals in the champions' 2-1 win over Monaco.
The 21-year-old, who moved to France from Cruzeiro Belo Horizonte in an £8m move last week, scored a goal in each half to condemn Monaco to their third defeat of the season.
Didier Deschamps’ men played the last 34 minutes with 10 men after Olivier Kapo was sent off, but nonetheless gave themselves a chance of gaining an unlikely point when David Gigliotti pulled a goal back 11 minutes from time.
It would certainly not have been a deserved point. Lyon had dominated the game, without really playing at their best, warming up for Tuesday’s meeting with Real Madrid in the perfect fashion. Fred made his mark as early as the fifth minute, Sidney Govou deflecting Jérémy Berthod’s left-wing cross into the path of the Brazilian and he slotted home left-footed.
Monaco failed to muster a single opening in the first period, and almost went two behind when the impressive Fred was within of whisker of latching onto Juninho Pernambucano’s low cross on 28 minutes. Guillaume Warmuz, deputising again for the injured Flavio Roma, saved a Juninho free kick at full stretch after the interval, but it was only a matter of time before the champions doubled their lead.
Hatem Ben Arfa delivered a cross from the left towards the near post, and Fred reacted quicker than Sébastien Squillaci to head home on 50 minutes.
Reduced to 10 men, Monaco looked intent on limiting the damage, but had to rely on their veteran custodian Warmuz for keeping the score respectable. The former Borussia Dortmund ‘keeper pulled off two fine saves in the space of a few minutes, first from Ben Arfa, then from Florent Malouda.
Monaco got on the scoresheet late on, as Gigliotti’s shot deflected off Tiago and wrong-footed the Lyon ‘keeper Grégory Coupet.
Gigliotti almost silenced the Stade Gerland crowd in injury time when he went close to bundling in an equaliser from close range, but Lyon hung on to extend their lead at the top of the table.
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