Montpellier endured another crushing defeat on Sunday as Toulouse dismantled them 3-0, just a week after their 3-0 loss to Marseille. Led by the brilliance of Zakaria Aboukhlal, Toulouse took full advantage of a Montpellier side showing little resistance and seemingly devoid of solutions.
Toulouse wasted no time, with Aboukhlal opening the scoring in the 7th minute after a well-placed pass from Joshua King.
Just a minute later, Aboukhlal struck again, outpacing Montpellier’s Benjamin Lecomte to put his team two goals up and all but seal the outcome in the game’s early stages.
The Moroccan forward’s dynamic start left Montpellier struggling, their hopes dimming as they scrambled to recover.
Not content with just his two goals, Aboukhlal turned provider in the 27th minute, setting up King, who curled a precise shot past Lecomte for Toulouse’s third goal.
King’s earlier effort had been disallowed due to offside in the 17th minute, but this time the goal stood, adding to Montpellier’s misery.
With this, Toulouse cemented their dominant display, leaving Montpellier with no answer to their relentless attack.
Montpellier’s woes continued as their captain, Téji Savanier, lost his composure in the 51st minute.
During a physical contest with Cristian Cásseres, Savanier struck the Venezuelan in the face, earning a direct red card and leaving his team down to ten men.
The dismissal was yet another blow to Montpellier, highlighting their frustrations in a match where they struggled to keep up with Toulouse.
Despite Montpellier’s attempts to regroup defensively, Toulouse nearly added a fourth goal.
In the 67th minute, Falaye Sacko narrowly avoided scoring an own goal after mishandling an Aboukhlal cross, with the ball striking the post.
Lecomte, already under siege, managed several vital saves to prevent further damage, including a close-range header from Charlie Cresswell in the 59th minute and a last-minute save from Franck Magri in stoppage time.
The result marked Toulouse’s first victory in four games, lifting them to 14th in the standings. For Montpellier, however, the situation remains bleak.
Rooted to the bottom of the table, they now face the daunting task of reversing their fortunes in a season that has so far delivered little but disappointment.
