Ligue 1: Gabriel Boschilia leads AS Monaco over Nantes

Gabriel Boschilia, who starred in Abu Dhabi during the 2013 U17 World Cup, scored the lone goal as AS Monaco downed Nantes on Saturday in Ligue 1.

Monaco’s Gabriel Boschilia celebrates his goal against Nantes in Ligue 1 on Saturday, August 20, 2016. Jean-Sebastien Evrard / AFP

Gabriel Boschilia's strike gave AS Monaco a 1-0 win at Nantes on Saturday, despite manager Leonardo Jardim making wholesale changes ahead of their Champions League play-off, second leg against Villarreal on Tuesday.

Brazilian winger Boschilia, locally remembered as a standout at the 2013 U17 World Cup in Abu Dhabi, grabbed the only goal of the game with a first-half free-kick. A toothless Nantes outfit never seriously threatened a much-changed Monaco team.

Jardim’s principality side claimed a 2-1 away win in Spain on Wednesday to close in on a place in the Champions League group stage.

Bernardo Silva scored the winner at El Madrigal in midweek, after also coming off the bench to grab his team a 2-2 draw at home to Guingamp last weekend in their Ligue 1 opener.

Portuguese coach Jardim made eight alterations to the starting XI that beat Villarreal, including resting Fabinho and Silva, who had scored four goals in the last week between them.

“We have quality players and I decided to play a young team,” said Jardim.

“Our players gave a good performance, even one who was playing for the first time (Kevin N’Doram), but it is what the team needs to play in four competitions, because we will need many options.

“It was important to win to get to four points, not because our next opponent (in the league) is PSG.”

Monaco surprisingly fell two goals behind to Guingamp last week before rescuing a point, but they started brightly at the Stade de la Beaujoire on Saturday and forged ahead in the 25th minute.

Debutant Corentin Jean, signed from relegated Troyes, was brought down in a dangerous area by Diego Carlos.

Boschilia, making his first appearance since returning from a loan spell at Belgian club Standard Liege, curled an excellent left-footed free-kick past Nantes goalkeeper Remy Riou and into the top corner.

Nantes defender Diego Carlos came close to an equaliser shortly after half-time, but his towering header landed on the roof of the net.

The Canaries had another opportunity just before the hour mark, but Nicolaj Thomsen, who scored their winner on his debut last weekend at Dijon, headed straight at visiting keeper Danijel Subasic when unmarked in the area.

A brawl broke out late on as the Nantes players were left frustrated in their attempts to salvage a point, but Monaco held on to the three points with little trouble.

Meanwhile, Nice made it two wins from two games as they triumphed 1-0 away at Angers, Alassane Plea scoring the only goal of the game early on.

They are level on six points with Lyon, who beat Caen 2-0 on Friday thanks to a brace of penalties from in-form striker Alexandre Lacazette.

Toulouse destroyed Bordeaux 4-1 in the Garonne derby with Danish international Martin Braithwaite scoring twice, while there were also wins for Lille, Bastia and Rennes.

Champions Paris Saint-Germain are at home to Metz on Sunday night.

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