Despite the fact that Monaco will have played seven competition matches by the end of August, thanks to an early start to the season, ASM return triumphant from Villarreal on Wednesday night after a 2-1 win in a UEFA Champions League qualifying match. The return leg will be played next week at Stade Louis II.
Scorers for ASM were Tavares in the third minute and Silva in the 72nd. The third goal in the game came from Villarreal’s Pato in the 36th minute.
The away win for Monaco was all the more remarkable due to the club’s recent injury troubles. The club has been particularly hard hit by the thigh injury to striker Radamel Falcao, keeping him out of the side for four weeks. Wednesday’s win was a further boost for the club after Leonardo Jardіm’s tactіcal tweak on Frіday that pulled what could have been a disastrous result out of the fіre in the first Ligue 1 match of the season with a 2-2 draw at home to Guіngamp.
Two Italian gamblers who have been banned from visiting casinos in their native country ran out of luck in Monaco when they tried to cheat at the English roulette tables last weekend.
Diego and Rocco were found to be cheating, thanks to cameras and inspectors at the Casino of Monte-Carlo, Monaco’s Criminal Court was told on Tuesday. A sleight of hand, a slight flick of the fingers, moving chips from a clear position on the cloth to straddle the number given by the ball, failed to work for the pair, both in their sixties.
Attorney General Jacque Doremieux said that the defendants, “who are no longer young and banned from casinos, have already been convicted of gambling offences in Italy. Even if they have no criminal record in France and Monaco, a sentence of fifteen days imprisonment is called for.”
For the defence, Maitre Arnaud Cheynut believes said that the offence was not sufficiently grave for a custodial sentence, and for the two men “the game is a way to escape a dull life”. He added that they had been willing to repay any loss to the Casino. He said that one of the men was a businessman “who did not need to win at the casino for a living. It’s an addiction.”
The court took a tougher line and doubled the penalty sought by the prosecution.
The great burkini controversy has come closer to home with the banning of the modest swimming attire at fashionable Mala beach in Cap d’Ail.
The Mayor, Republican Xavier Beck, issued an edict stating that access to the bathing beaches in Cap d’Ail is forbidden until September 21 for all persons who do not have the correct mode of dress, respecting morals and secularism and according to correct hygiene and security.
The mayoral ruling said that beachwear that ostentatiously is of a religious nature is a threat to public order, which it is necessary to prevent within the context of the recent terror attacks in France.
France’s Prime Minister Manuel Valls commented that the burkini is “not compatible with the values of France and the Republic”, adding that he supported mayors “who ban it if they acted in the public good”.
Cap d’Ail is the ninth French town to impose the ban, including Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Beaulieu-sur-mer, Eze and Villefranche, which also decided to prohibit the “provactive” swimwear on Wednesday. Three woman have been issued €38 fines in Cannes since last Friday.
An easyJet flight from Nice to Geneva was aborted while taxiing for take-off on Tuesday afternoon after the pilot noticed a person taking photographs of the aircraft.
The photographer turned out to be an airport employee who had a relative on the flight, the airline said later. Police carried out security checks on the aircraft before it was cleared for take-off two hours after its original time slot of 4:55 pm.
EasyJet apologised for any inconvenience to passengers. One passenger decided to take a later flight.
Monaco Life’s Summer Olympic Series: AS Monaco's Vagner Love
Our Q&A with Monaco’s Brazilian community heads to the pitch with AS Monaco striker Vagner Love
Striker Vagner Love joined AS Monaco in 2016. Photo: V. Love/AS Monaco
ML: You came to play for AS Monaco in January. How have you adjusted to life in Monaco and what do you miss from Brazil? VL: My first impression of Monaco was wonderful. I came here for football a few years ago, but I didn’t have much time to visit, since I had come over mostly to play. I’m adapting very well. Life here in Monaco is wonderful. The city is usually very calm. Now, with the warmer summer weather, you see that it is a bit more crowded and has more tourists.
From Brazil, I miss being with my family, with friends. I have children that stayed in Brazil, that I obviously miss. But my family here in Monaco – I live with my wife and daughter Alice – help me to overcome any homesickness. We have a great life.
ML: What is it like to be traded to a new team how do are players usually cool about welcoming new team members? VL: It was good from the first moment I received the proposal from the Monaco team. I was very happy to be able to be here, with a team in Europe, to be able to compete in the French championship. So the decision to come here wasn’t difficult at all. It was something that I wanted: to play in Europe, to play in a big team. The players really welcomed me, even though I don’t speak the language. I try to talk and try to communicate somehow, and the team always treats me very well. We get along both on and off the field.
ML: How does language work when you are Brazilian but transferred to the French, Chinese, or Russian team? VL: This part is always a little more complicated. I lived in Russia for seven years and then went to China, and now finally I’m here in Monaco. In both Russia and China I had a translator, but not here in Monaco. The coaching staff is Portuguese and that makes it a little easier when you have to have a conversation with the coach or talk team tactics or talk about some positioning on the field. So, in fact here in Monaco I’m not having too much difficulty, even without a translator. All in all up to now, the language, I think, is the thing that has had the least influence on my soccer career.
ML: Describe a day in the life of an AS Monaco player. VL: With AS Monaco the workouts are usually in the morning, so we arrive at the training centre early and start with some breakfast. After that, some players do a gym workout before we go to the field, where we train on average for an hour and a half to two hours. Before a match, we usually arrive at the stadium an hour and a half beforehand so we can prepare and concentrate on the game. On match days, I think for soccer in general and certainly in Brazil, we usually eat pasta because it’s easy to digest and the carbohydrates give you the energy you need to perform well. So this – noodles or any type of pasta – is something that forms part of the nutrition in all the clubs I’ve played for. We eat more pasta even after the match, to replenish all that is lost. The rest of the time we can eat more or less what we want. Of course, we cannot be eating a lot of fried food or anything too fattening!
ML: Were you interested in sports when you were a kid? How important is it for kids to develop interest in sports? VL: I started playing soccer at a very young age, it was the sport that most interested me. Of course, I did other sports in school when I was younger, but soccer has always been my passion. I always wanted to be a football player and happily everything worked out well to get where I am today.
I believe sport is very important for children, not only for the goal of becoming a professional. If all kids could do sport regularly when they’re young, this would have a positive impact of their health in the future.
ML: How do you feel about Brazil hosting the Olympics? VL: I’m happy for my country, my state of Rio de Janeiro, to be hosting the Olympics. It’s an event that will go down in the history of Brazil and of Rio de Janeiro, and I hope everything goes well, that it will be considered one of the best Olympics ever in the world. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to be there to watch because the calendar here for us has already begun. We were in pre-season, now the championship has begun, but I’ll try to follow from afar. And not just the soccer! There are other Olympic sports that I like to watch too. So I will try to catch as much as possible and hope that Brazil has an excellent Olympics for all the athletes the organisers and spectators.
ML: What do you see in your football future? VL: I have one more season under contract here with AS Monaco and I intend to fulfil my contract to the end and, if the Monaco team wants to renew, I’ll be very happy to stay on, to be playing for Monaco, to be enjoying this wonderful city. Once I stop playing though, I intend to go back to my town, to my country.
Our series on Monaco’s Brazilian community ends with the Closing Ceremony this weekend with our final feature on professional racing driver Bruno Senna.
