AP, Caen :
Anthony Martial scored his sixth goal in as many games and Bernardo Silva bagged a brace as Monaco moved within four points of the leaders with a 3-0 win at Caen in the French League on Friday.
Following two consecutives draws, Monaco regained its attacking flair ahead of next week’s trip to Juventus in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals.
Monaco, which boasts the league’s best away record having won seven of its last eight games on the road, provisionally took third place ahead of Marseille’s match at Bordeaux on Sunday. Paris Saint-Germain leads second-place Lyon by one point, with Monaco three points further back.
Martial put the visitors ahead in the 29th minute, finishing off a well-worked attack, to slot home after Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco’s back pass in the area.
Silva doubled Monaco’s lead in the 64th minute with a superb goal. The Portuguese midfielder beat defender Nicolas Seube with a nutmeg before shooting through the legs of midfielder N’golo Kante that left ‘keeper Remy Vercoutre stranded.
Silva sealed his team’s win six minutes from time on the counterattack after being fed by Martial.
Caen struggled to create and had its best chance in the 77th minute when Emiliano Sala missed from close range.
The only blow for Monaco was the loss of stalwart midfielder Jeremy Toulalan’s in the 49th after he picked up a left thigh injury that leaves him a doubt for the Juventus game.
