Monaco collected their fourth consecutive away win to leapfrog Marseille into third place in the French Ligue 1 on Friday with a 3-0 success at Caen.
Anthony Martial and Bernado Silva scored the goals that put Monaco a point ahead of Marseille, before they travel to Turin on Tuesday to take on Juventus in their Champions League quarter-final first leg.
“We are very happy with the victory and it’s a very important victory after two draws at home,” said pleased Monaco coach Leonardo Jardim after the tie.
“I think the team played very well and now looking ahead to Tuesday the best thing was for the team was to win today (Friday) which gives us confidence and the desire in regards to our away performances.” he added.
Martial continued his rich vein of recent form by opening the scoring just before the half-hour, finishing off a sweeping move from midfield begun by captain Jeremy Toulalan.
A crossfield ball found winger Yannick Ferreira Carrasco and the Belgian’s cross was touched in first-time off the post by Martial.
It was the French under-21 international’s sixth goal in as many matches, his seventh in total for the season, and underlined his claim for a full international call-up.
On a negative note for Monaco, Toulalan went off injured with a suspected hamstring injury and is now a doubt for the Juve’ clash.
Martial’s livewire performances over the past month have seen Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov relegated to the bench and justify the faith paid in him by Jardim.
Monaco were already cruising to victory when Silva made it safe on 64 minutes when he combined with Carrasco to take a corner quickly and fire home left-footed with the home defence stranded.
All remaining doubts about the outcome were settled when Silva added his second of the night six minutes from the end, with a beautifully-timed shot from Martial’s perfect pass for his fourth goal of the season.
Marseille face a difficult task to regain third spot, the final Champions League qualifying place, when they travel to Bordeaux on Sunday.
Leaders Paris Saint-Germain take part in the League Cup final on Saturday against Bastia while second-placed Lyon, who were scheduled to play Bastia are idle with the match postponed until April 15.