Habib Diallo haunts former club Metz with brace in Strasbourg win

Habib Diallo scored a first-half brace as Strasbourg hammered his former club Metz 3-0 in a Ligue 1 encounter on Friday.

After opening his goal account for the 2021-22 season from the penalty spot against Lyon on September 12, Diallo continued his goalscoring form at Stade de la Meinau.

Ludovic Ajorque opened the scoring for Strasbourg in the sixth minute and a few minutes later, Diallo doubled the Racers' lead following an assist Gerzino Nyamsi just before the half hour-mark.

In the 40th minute, the Senegal striker made it 3-0 for the hosts which completed the rout as they failed to score in the second 45 minutes.

Diallo and Ivory Coast's Jean-Eudes Aholou played for 68 minutes before they were replaced, while Ghana's Abdul Majeed Waris was introduced as an 89th-minute substitute by coach Julien Stephan.

Metz, meanwhile, had Algeria goalkeeper Alexandre Oukidja between the sticks and they had a host of African stars in action including Tunisia's Dylan Bronn, Mali's Boubakar Kouyate, Senegal quartet Ibrahima Niane, Mamadou Gueye, Papa Yade, Pape Matar Sarr

The result was Strasbourg's second win of the season after their last home match against Brest, which ended 3-1 in their favour.

The triumph powered them to 10th in the Ligue 1 table with seven points after six outings, pending the outcomes of other league matches.

Diallo, who is Strasbourg's leading top scorer with three goals in six league appearances this term, will be expected to lead the Stade de la Meinau outfit when they visit Lens for their next Ligue fixture on September 22.

The Senegal international joined the Racers on a five-year contract from Metz in October 2020 and he scored nine goals in 32 games last season.