Monaco on song as Pellegri makes history

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Monaco, February 16: Ligue 1 champions Monaco tightened grip on second place with a routine 4-0 home victory against Dijon as 16-year-old Pietro Pellegri carved out a little piece of history for himself.

Keita Balde put the principality side ahead in the first half before Fabinho, Rony Lopes and Kamil Glik struck after the break as the champions moved to 56 points from 26 games.

They trail leaders Paris Saint Germain, who host Racing Strasbourg on Saturday, by nine points, but lead third-placed Olympique de Marseille, who play on Sunday against Bordeaux, by four.

Balde scored after 13 minutes when he latched onto Djibril Sidibe's cross, rewarding the hosts for their early dominance.

Midfielder Fabinho doubled the tally in the 69th with a penalty after Thomas Lemar had been fouled.

Dijon pushed forward in a bid to get back into the match but were twice caught on the counter as Lopes and Glik struck three minutes from time and two minutes into added time respectively.

Despite the victory, it was not all plain sailing for Monaco after they lost striker Stevan Jovetic to a muscle injury in the pre-match warm-up which placed more pressure on Balde who was returning from suspension.

Meanwhile, Pellegri, at 16 years, 10 months and 30 days, became the youngest player to appear for Monaco when he came on as an 88th minute substitute.

Pellegri replaced Balde and beat the previous record held by Kylian Mbappe who was 16 years, 11 months and 13 days old when he made his debut for the club in December 2015.

The young Italian arrived at Monaco from Genoa during the transfer window where he had also been the youngest player to feature in Serie A and the first player born in the 21st century to play in the Italian championship.

(With Agency inputs).