The name Soner Ertek is one you might not recognise. The Turkish-born defender spent much of his career playing in the French lower divisions, never going above the semi-pro CFA fourth tier. But unfortunately for Ertek, he is vividly remembered by Radamel Falcao and Monaco supporters for one reason. In January 2014, Claudio Ranieri’s nouveau-riche Monaco side took on fourth-tier Monts d’Or Azergues in the Coupe de France. Falcao had opened the scoring, but his manager remained concerned. “On many occasions, I drew the attention of the fourth official to the hardness of the game which was beginning to develop and to the danger that it posed to the players,” Ranieri told Monaco’s website. “I wasn’t listened to and that’s unfortunately not the first time that we have paid the consequences.”

The Italian’s concerns went unheeded and his marquee signing was scythed down by Ertek’s over-zealous lunge. Pounding the turf, Falcao looked up at Ertek in dismay, as if to ask why he would do such a thing. Replays showed Falcao’s knee crumple under the weight of Ertek’s challenge; it was immediately obvious that the ensuing lay-off would be an extended one.

“I’m not going to hide that my sadness is huge. My heart is destroyed,” said Falcao, after discovering that the tear on his anterior cruciate ligament would end his season and probably kill his dream of playing at the World Cup in Brazil. “God makes the improbable possible, I believe in Him,” he said, but his prayers were not answered.

After such an horrendous injury and difficult loan spells with Manchester United and Chelsea, his supreme form for Monaco this season is all the more commendable. And that form continued on Saturday afternoon at the Stade Louis II as he hit a clinical brace in Monaco’s 3-0 win over Nice, denting Nice’s title hopes and taking Monaco three points clear at the top of Ligue 1. Falcao has now scored 14 goals in 13 league starts and his instinctive, predatory displays could be the missing ingredient for a Monaco team who are now genuine contenders on both the domestic and European stages.

Success in the principality has been a long time coming for Falcao. From the moment he posed with the club’s distinctive red-and-white shirt overlooking Monte Carlo Bay, the relationship between club and player has been a tumultuous one. The marquee acquisition of the Dmitry Rybolovlev era, Falcao joined in the summer of 2013 as part of a mammoth €150m outlay. He was the brightest among a constellation of stars that included Jérémy Toulalan, João Moutinho and James Rodríguez.

Nevertheless, the Colombian’s stay at the Stade Louis ll was immediately brought into question. Marca reported that the player had asked to leave before the end of that summer window, allegedly unimpressed with the “sporting project” and making eyes at long-term suitors Real Madrid. In October 2013, just a few months after Falcao had left Atlético Madrid for Monaco, Florentino Pérez claimed that he wanted to return to the Spanish capital to play for Real Madrid. The player duly denied this, saying he “believed in the Monaco project” as rumours swirled about the Ligue de Football Professionnel’s attempts to make Monaco adhere to the same rate of tax as the rest of the league, which would have cut salaries in half and potentially forced out Falcao and Rodríguez.

Falcao stayed put for the time being and proved prolific for a while, scoring at Bordeaux on his debut in August 2013 racking up 11 goals in 19 matches before Ertek’s tackle ended his season. If Falcao did believe in the “Monaco Project” his faith grew thin as he recovered, as the Monaco he returned to was markedly different.

In May 2014 Rybolovlev was ordered to pay his former wife $4.5bn in “the most expensive divorce in history” (a figure that was reduced to $600m in June 2015). Monaco’s backing was no longer without limits and the project was at a crossroads, with the club’s CEO, Vadim Vasilyev, admitting in September 2014: “There were two possible roads to go down. The first was to spend big, that’s what we did at the beginning. The second, now, is to build a project for the long haul. Yes, it takes longer, it is less glorious, we will be talked about less in the press, people will be worried, there are no longer stars and there is less glamour, but we believe in it.” Vasilyev’s spin aside, Monaco had little choice but to overhaul their philosophy, morphing from the ultimate buying club into the ultimate selling club.

Manchester United and Chelsea paid his wages for two seasons but he struggled at both clubs and returned to Monaco last summer. Monaco have scored 68 goals in 23 league games under Leonardo Jardim this season and Falcao has been the catalyst, providing a focal point for an attack that now has purpose and drive.

Qualifying for the Champions League group stages over the summer allowed Monaco to keep a promising squad together, led by Falcao and his fellow loan returnee Valère Germain in attack. Monaco have also been buoyed by the development of their young wide players. The mercurial Bernardo Silva and the skilful Thomas Lemar have also been key components in a forward-thinking 4-4-2.

Both men pressed and harried Nice’s trio of centre-backs to distraction on Saturday, breaking up play and starting counter-attacks relentlessly. Nice’s talented young centre-back Malang Sarr was put under pressure and had a torrid evening, eventually being sacrificed for a switch to a back four in the second half.

As imperious as Monaco have been in attack, they have been equally impressive at the back, where considerable investment was made in the form of Kamil Glik, Djibril Sidibé and Benjamin Mendy in the summer, with Jemerson the only member of the defence at the club last season. The towering Glik led by example at the back against Nice, limiting Mario Balotelli to just nine touches in the first half. Glik was once again ably protected by the tireless sentinels, Fabinho and Tiemoué Bakayoko, whose range of passing is matched only by their defensive workrate.

As a result, Nice’s wing-backs were easily exposed not only by the waspish pressing of Jardim’s front four, but also the marauding full-back Sidibé and partner in crime Mendy on opposite flank. While Sidibé is usually the more reliable of the pair, it was Mendy who pushed to the fore. His woeful service at the Parc des Princes last week was replaced by devilish deliveries that Falcao and Germain gleefully gobbled up.

Nice started in the bold and committed style coach Lucien Favre has encouraged this season but Monaco found their rhythm and gradually grew into the game, putting them in the ascendancy by half-time. Mendy’s tenacity provided the opening goal just after the break, digging out a superb cross to find the head of Germain, who had escaped Sarr to head home. Mendy’s enterprise was again crucial as he set up Falcao for the second goal, a simple tap-in from six yards.

As the match wore on, Lemar and Mendy continued to cause havoc, with Lemar grabbing the assist for Monaco’s third goal. As Lemar bore down on the box, Falcao looked as if he was on his way to the far post but, to everyone’s surprise, he stopped dead and pulled back towards the penalty spot. Lemar found Falcao with the cut-back and and he fired home, confirming with 10 minutes to play what most viewers had known at the hour mark: Monaco were staying at Ligue 1’s summit. That deft finish may prove to be a small but significant moment for Falcao as he showed beyond reasonable doubt that the man Porto and Atleti fans remember so fondly endures.

Nice were by no means embarrassed, despite the scoreline. They are just three points behind Monaco and a place in the Champions League would still be an astounding achievement. They are a modest club, who are slowly and wisely investing in youth and astute acquisitions from around Europe. Monaco’s spending power has been diminished – down to €145m this season, compared to €500m for Paris Saint-Germain and €235m for Lyon – but it is still massive when compared to what Nice can invest in players. Monaco bought Mendy from Marseille for €13m last summer – a figure equivalent to Nice’s total transfer outlay.

Monaco showed that they the most compelling spectacle Ligue 1 has to offer and one of Europe’s best sides, with Falcao a prime factor in their development. When asked about Falcao, a member of staff at Atlético Madrid once said: “On the morning of the game, he’s friendly and open. At lunch time, you can see he’s concentrating that bit more. But by the time you leave the hotel for the ground, he’s completely different. The contrast is huge. He leaves the dressing room last and if you see his face at that point, he’s no longer Falcao – he’s ‘The Tiger’. His only thought is the ball.” European football seemed to have given up on him, but the Tiger has returned.

Ligue 1 talking points

• Toulouse hadn’t scored in four matches in the league, slipping from European contenders to midtable strugglers, so their 4-0 win over Angers was a welcome end to their issues in finding the net, but not for the reasons one might expect. The club splashed the cash by their standards, bringing in former Caen striker Andy Delort from Tigres. He duly scored on his return to France, but more impressive than the ex-Wigan striker was the play of Oscar Trejo. The Argentinian played centrally in a 4-2-3-1, with Martin Braithwaite moved wide to accommodate Delort, and he was sublime on the evening, relishing the movement and pace of the attackers around him. The arrival of Corentin Jean on loan and Delort has given Trejo team-mates who are more imaginative and less selfish than the likes of Jimmy Durmaz and Issiaga Sylla. In the absence of anything resembling consistency outside of the top three, on this form, it’s not difficult to see Toulouse returning to the fore in the battle for European places.

• Bordeaux drew fewer than 17,000 fans to the Matmut Atlantique for their Saturday evening clash and were disappointing against Rennes in match that had real implications for the European places, with Marseille already having lost. Bordeaux have looked sharper since a change to a 4-3-3, but the team’s poor home record is becoming difficult to ignore. They have taken only 19 points from 12 matches overall, winning only once in their last five, a 1-0 defeat of 10-man Toulouse. The team drew nearly 29,000 fans for a midweek Coupe de la Ligue semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain a fortnight ago and played well for long stretches of that match despite losing. Would a similar crowd have given the hosts the edge against Rennes? Manager Jocelyn Gourvennec has his young side playing exciting football, but a lack of consistent support at home is surely testing the team’s confidence.

Bordeaux’s Jérémy Ménez scores against Rennes. Photograph: Nicolas Tucat/AFP/Getty Images

• Lyon manager Bruno Génésio did well upon his appointment last season, changing tactics from Hubert Fournier’s diamond 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3 that brought the best out of Rachid Ghezzal and Maxwel Cornet, the pair playing as inverted wingers. This season, though, he has shuffled tactics with an alarming frequency, despite that 4-3-3 being the best option for the likes of Alexandre Lacazette and Corentin Tolisso. Injuries have played their role in this flux, but the team have been largely healthy in the last month or so, and it was a relief for Lyon fans to see the team trot out an attack-minded 4-3-3 once again, with new signing Memphis Depay given place of pride on the left. However, rather than switching in-form Mathieu Valbuena to the right, he dropped the former Marseille man to the bench. He looked bright after his introduction, but Lyon, shorn from the off of any of creative force, were unable to respond to a pair of early goals from Saint-Étienne. Génésio has finally got his tactics right, but his personnel choices now need to redeem themselves.

• Montpellier striker Steve Mounié was back among the goals against Bastia on Saturday, netting a brace to see his team take a crucial three points. It was an auspicious debut for new manager Jean-Louis Gasset, and underscores how the team should be built around the youngster going forward. A sublime blend of pace and power, Mounié now has eight goals on the season, all from open play. Putting aside penalties, that total ranks sixth in the league and represents a return akin to what the club may have expected after he netted 11 goals on loan for a poor Nimes side last season. With Jonathan Ikoné in on loan from Paris Saint-Germain, Montpellier now have the right blend of raw creativity (Ryad Boudebouz), power (Mounié) and pace (Ikoné) to properly get at teams, an asset that should not be understated in the relegation scrap.

• Eighteen-year-old Yann Karamoh’s late winner gave Caen their first away win of the season at Guingamp on Saturday evening, but the youngster was far from the real hero. The 36-year-old goalkeeper Rémy Vercoutre rolled back the years impressively at the Stade Roudourou, making fine saves to deny Lucas Deaux, Marcus Coco and Jimmy Briand. Caen have much to do to haul themselves clear of the relegation scrap, but finally getting a win on the road will do much to boost the confidence of Patrice Garande and his team. Alaeddine Yahia also had a superb match at the heart of defence; with Vercoutre, his performance was a potent reminder of the intrinsic value of veteran players when the chips are down.

Results: Metz 1-0 Marseille, Monaco 3-0 Nice, Bordeaux 1-1 Rennes, Dijon 1-3 Paris Saint-Germain, Guingamp 0-1 Caen, Lille 0-1 Lorient, Montpellier 2-1 SC Bastia, Toulouse 4-0 Angers, Nantes 0-2 Nancy, Saint-Étienne 2-0 Lyon.

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