Monaco claimed all three points in Ligue 1 this afternoon by convincingly beating Montpellier 4-1 at home.
The hosts had a chance after just five minutes when Emmanuel Riviere latched onto a long ball from Jeremy Toulalan, but the goalkeeper kept it out at the near post.
Ricardo Carvalho should have made it 1-0 four minutes later with a free header from a corner, but the defender skewed his effort wide.
Monaco then had the chance to go in front when Siaka Tiene brought down Lucas Ocampos to give the home side a penalty.
Falcao stepped up and made no mistake, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way to make it 1-0 on 18 minutes.
Montpellier equalised just five minutes later through Victor Montano, who got across the defender and headed home to make it 1-1.
Monaco took the lead just before half time when Riviere raced through and lobbed the goalkeeper.
© AFP
The home side increased their advantage 10 minutes into the second half when Riviere grabbed his second, bundling over the line from a Toulalan corner to make it 3-1.
Montpellier were reduced to 10 men on 60 minutes when Daniel Congre saw red for pulling down Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco just outside the area.
Monaco added a fourth on 80 minutes when Riviere completed his hat-trick, nodding home a deflected Ferreira-Carrasco shot.
Sam Hughes
