Lyon enjoy triumphant Ligue 1 season opener over Monaco

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PARIS, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Lyon started their new season's Ligue 1 campaign in a triumphant manner after easing past Monaco 3-0 in Friday's match.

Lyon, who finished third last season, earned an ideal start with Moussa Dembele's header on five minutes. Following Monaco midfielder Cesc Fabregas' exit, Lyon took the match in control, sailing to victory with powerful strikes from Memphis Depay and Lucas Tousart.

Lyon seemed unaffected throughout the match by departure of star players Nabil Fekir, Tanguy Ndombele and Ferland Mendy during the off-season. Their new faces Thiago Mendes, Youssouf Kone and Joachim Andersen was introduced into the starting line-up.

Dembele gifted the visitors an early lead as he jumped highest to meet Bertrand Traore's corner from the right, and Monaco's newly recruited goalkeeper Benjamin Lecomte failed to block it out.

Monaco had to see themselves one man down around the half hour mark. Fabregas was initially shown a yellow card for his bad challenge on Leo Dubois, but match referee Ruddy Buquet then changed it to a red card after consulting with VAR.

More worse for Monaco, the 2017 league champions, was that they conceded another goal just six minutes later. Depay made the most of the hosts' slack defense outside the box by firing the ball between Lecomte's legs.

With two-goal advantage after the restart, Lyon could approach the game in a more relaxed manner. They made sure of full points as Tousart collected Mendes' pass before beating Lecomte again with a low shot with 10 minutes from time.

Paris Saint-Germain will kick off title defense with a home fixture against Nimes on Sunday. Enditem

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