High-flying Monaco have taken a comfortable 2-0 lead into the halfway stage of their Ligue 1 match with struggling Sochaux this afternoon.
Sochaux almost took the lead after just five minutes when Emmanuel Mayuka found space inside the box, but his effort was tipped wide by Danijel Subasic.
From the resulting corner, Monaco made a quick break down the left through James Rodriguez, who crossed the ball in for Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco to volley home for the opening goal of the match.
Ferraira-Carrasco doubled his side's lead and his personal tally for the day just six minutes later when Carlao scuffed a clearance straight to the Belgian, who had a simple task of slotting it past Simon Pouplin.
Sochaux fought back from the two quick goals and tested Subasic twice in the space of five minutes midway through the half, but the keeper was equal to efforts from both Mayuka and Rafael Dias.
Radamel Falcao then missed two good chances for the visitors, the second of which allowed Sochaux to break, but Cedric Bakambu shot from distance despite having only Subasic to beat.
Monaco pushed for a third in the closing stages of the half, but Mounir Obbadi and Falcao both failed to make the most of openings as the visitors settled for a two-goal lead going into the break.
Barney Corkhill
