It’s been the first upset of the UEFA Champions League. AS Monaco, who returned to this competition after long six years, secured a shocking win over the five-time Champions League winner FC Barcelona.
Barcelona are the league leader of La Liga, winning five out of their first five matches. They have been flying under Hansi Flick. Barcelona were the clear favorite against AS Monaco, but the newly promoted side made a great upset in the Champions League. They defeated the Spanish giant by a 2-1 margin.
As It Happened
Barca boss Hansi Flick set up his team formation with 4-2-3-1, which the Monaco manager also used in this match AS Monaco looked very confident against Barcelona from the start and were looking for the opportunity to hurt the Catalan club.
However, the real opportunity came when Barca goalkeeper Ter Stegan made an error. He tried to pass the ball toward Eric Garcia, but Monaco midfielder Takumi Minamino took the ball away and went on a one-on-one with Ter Stegan. As a result, Eric Garcia had to make a ruthless foul to save the goal, which saw him receiving a direct red card in just 10 minutes.
Monaco took that advantage and placed tons of pressure on 10-man Barcelona. They took an early lead when Maghnes Akliouche scored a stunning goal in the 16th minute.
Barca boss Hansi Flick agreed that the momentum changed after the red card. He said, “Yes, the game changed completely [after the red]. We tried at all times, we defended with passion. We made some mistakes, but we tried to score goals. We had some chances, but they deserved to win.”
However, Barca’s wonder kid Lamine Yamal brought them back into the match with a fantastic goal outside from the box. He scored the goal in the 28th minute to level the scoreline.
After the break, the two teams tried hard to go ahead. But Monaco looked more dangerous and had more chances in the entire game. Finally, they took the lead once again as George Ilenikhena, coming off the bench in the 60th minute, scored the winner within ten minutes.
Barcelona failed to equalize in the remaining minutes. As a result, Monaco secured their first-ever Champions League win over Barcelona last night at Stade Louis II.
Barcelona boss Hansi Flick shared his thoughts on losing such a game. “We have to analyse the game and talk to the players to see what we have not done well. It will not be easy but we have to recover energy. We lost, okay, I have told the players but we have to come back stronger and recover, said Hansi Flick after the game.
He added, “We have a game on Sunday and we have to give our best, fight for the team and that is what we will continue to do.”
