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Day: 8 November 2021

Welcome home Princess!

by: Cassandra Tanti
08/11/2021

Princess Charlene has finally been reunited in Monaco with her husband Prince Albert and children Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, after being held-up in South Africa due to medical issues.
The 43-year-old Princess of Monaco touched down at Nice airport in a Palace jet on Monday morning after a 10-hour flight from South Africa. But she wasn’t alone. By her side was a new member of the Princely family – a Rhodesian Ridgeback called Khan.

Photo by Eric Mathon, Prince’s Palace

Pictures taken by local media Monaco Matin show an exuberant set of twins and a very happy husband embracing the Princess in the Palace Square. Khan also appears to get quite a welcome.
Princess Charlene has been in her native South Africa since March this year after contracting a serious sinus infection which made her unable to travel. While her imminent return was recently revealed by Prince Albert, the arrival of Princess Charlene on Monday morning was an unexpected surprise for Monaco.
Before leaving South Africa, the Princess said: “It has obviously been a very challenging time to be here, but at the same time it has been wonderful being in South Africa. I would like to thank the doctors in South Africa who have done a tremendous job in helping me and I am so looking forward to getting back to my children.”
See the video here: https://fb.watch/99gLXlJo6x/
The Princess is now expected to accompany her husband to Dubai on 13th November to visit the Monaco 360° Pavilion at the World Expo, before returning to the Principality for National Day celebrations on 19th November, a day which will undoubtedly hold special significance as the Principality celebrates the return of their princess.
 
 
Photo by Eric Mathon, Prince’s Palace
 
 

Team spirit key to ‘solid result’ in Mexico

by: Luke Entwistle
08/11/2021

Charles Leclerc earned another positive result in Mexico, finishing fifth in front of a 375,000-strong crowd at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Meanwhile, Verstappen took the win ahead of Hamilton to extend his championship lead with only a handful of races remaining.
Having been out-qualified by his team-mate on Saturday, Charles Leclerc was quick to atone for his poor qualifying performance as he made an early surge through the field. Leclerc benefitted from a first corner collision between pole-sitter Valterri Bottas and the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo, which saw both drivers fall to the back of the grid. Having also got the jump on his team-mate, Leclerc found himself in a healthy P5 at the end of the first lap.
Verstappen, having started third on the grid, got the jump on both Mercedes’. Benefitting from the tow and the long-run down to turn 1, Verstappen made an impressive move around the outside of the first corner to take the lead. Further down the field, the evasive action taken by drivers to avoid the stranded Bottas resulted in a crash that would bring out the safety car. Ocon, squeezed by Tsunoda and Schumacher, sent both cars airborne, breaking their suspension in the process, whilst he miraculously escaped unscathed from the incident.
After a brief safety car period, Verstappen quickly built a lead over his championship rival Hamilton. Perez in the other Red Bull also had strong race-pace at his home grand prix and, sitting just behind Hamilton in third, ensured that the Englishman’s focus was on what was happening in his rear- wing mirrors rather than what was ahead of him.
Leclerc managed to maintain a comfortable gap to his team-mate behind, yet surprisingly couldn’t find the pace to chase down the Alpha Tauri of Gasly in fourth place. Late in the race, with Leclerc struggling on the hard tyres and unable to make inroads on Gasly, Ferrari ordered him to cede the place to his team-mate Carlos Sainz. Although Sainz managed to close the gap to Gasly, he was never within striking distance, and in the final laps Ferrari switched the cars back around, with Leclerc retaking fifth position.

Photo credit Scuderia Ferrari Press Office

At the front, Hamilton came under late pressure from home-favourite Perez, who closed the gap to under a second but failed to pass. Verstappen took a comfortable victory to extend his championship lead to 19 points with only four races remaining.
Speaking post-race, Leclerc reflected on his performance, as well as the team orders which saw the Ferrari’s swap positions, saying: “Fifth and sixth is a solid result to take home this weekend… As a whole, I think that today was a good day and an example of our team spirit.”
The result sees Ferrari take third place in the constructors’ championship going into next weekend’s race in Brazil.
 
 
Top photo source: Scuderia Ferrari Press Office
 
 
 

Policeman survives knife attack in Cannes

by: Stephanie Horsman
08/11/2021

A knife-wielding suspected terrorist has been shot after attacking police officers in Cannes earlier this morning outside the city’s main police station.
The knifeman allegedly shouted religious epitaphs before going after three police officers outside Cannes’ main Police Commisariat at around 6.30am Monday, sparking fears that the attack may be terrorist related.
The man, who is yet to be publicly named, approached a police vehicle with four officers in it in front of the station and flung open the driver’s door. He allegedly struck the driver in the chest/stomach area with his knife, but the officer was unharmed thanks to the bulletproof vest he was wearing.
The man then allegedly walked around the car to attack a policewoman but was shot by another police officer who fired three times, stopping the assailant in his tracks.

“For the moment, there is no investigation opened by the anti-terrorism prosecution who remains as an observer,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said during a press conference in Cannes on Monday.  “It is a national who has an Algerian passport, who is regularly on the national territory, who arrived in Europe in 2009 to 2010, then in France from 2016 coming in from Italy. He obviously has an Italian residence permit and several weeks ago, he had applied for a resident card in France that the prefecture had not granted him.”

The suspect, who remains in a critical condition in hospital, is unknown to police and intelligence services.
The victim is said to be in a state of “extreme psychological shock”.
 
 
Photo posted by Eric Ciotti, representing the 1st constituency of Alpes-Maritimes, on his Twitter account
 
 
 

Roca team’s winning streak brought to an emphatic end

by: Luke Entwistle
08/11/2021

After an impressive week which saw Monaco basket register four victories in seven days, La Roca team experienced a sobering weekend, falling to defeat in both their Euroleague and domestic league matches.
The Roca team started strongly in the first quarter against Olympiacos in Greece. Two three-pointers from Alpha Diallo took Monaco basket into an early lead, which was then extended thanks to a three-pointer from Andjusic, and an impressive three-pointer from nine metres from American Mike James.
ASM finished the first quarter with a sizable 27-17 lead, which looked difficult to overturn for Olympiacos, but overturn it they did. In the second-quarter, Mitrovic’s side started to lose control, with Sloukas and Walkup inflicting most of the damage.
By half-time ASM had all but squandered their 10-point lead and went in with a lead of only three points. If the first-half was a tight affair, then the second-half was anything but. Olympiacos blitzed the Roca team and took both the third and fourth quarters in emphatic style (24-14 and 27-13). Livio and Dorsey were imperious for Olympiacos, both of them finishing with 18 points, and ultimately condemning ASM basket to an 86-65 defeat.
Mitrovic made his displeasure known post-match with a scathing assessment of the heavy defeat, saying: “Unfortunately we missed everything. Especially our leaders, our best players did nothing tonight, and we’ve lost the match.”
Mitrovic’s words didn’t have the desired, galvanising effect, as his side followed up their Euroleague defeat with another defeat to Bourg-en-Bresse in the Betclic league just two days later.
This time outclassed from start to finish, Bourg-en-Bresse took a comprehensive 88-63 victory against a weary-looking Monaco side. Courby and Chassang proved to be a formidable partnership, and they quickly took the game away from the Roca team in the first quarter, as Bourg-en-Bresse raced into a 29-14 lead by the end of the first quarter.
Bourg-en-Bresse, channelling the intensity of the crowd with a highly energetic performance, continued to dominate and went on to win in each quarter, albeit by less emphatic margins than in the first.
Despite a mounting injury list and a tightly-packed Monaco schedule, winger Yakuba Outtara was quick to dispel any question of fatigue post-match. “We didn’t manage to raise our level… Fatigue? It isn’t an excuse, there are 16 high-level players at Monaco.”
AS Monaco basketall will be hoping to get their season back on track when they travel to face Gravelines-Dunkerque on Tuesday.
 
Photo source: AS Monaco Basketball
 
 
 

AS Monaco held to goalless draw

by: Luke Entwistle
08/11/2021

A defensively solid yet offensively uninspiring AS Monaco display was only enough to earn a point away to relegation-fighting Reims. The goalless stalemate means that the Red and Whites have failed to score in their last three fixtures in all competitions.
Keen to bounce back following a disappointing defeat last time out in Ligue 1 against Brest, ASM recalled Ben Yedder after being benched against PSV in midweek. There was also a place in the starting line-up for playmaker Golovin, whose workload is slowly being increased, as revealed to Monaco Life by Nico Kovac on Thursday.
True to their recent form, ASM once again lacked the creativity to conjure high-quality chances. Rajkovic in the Reims goal was only tested once in the first-half, forced into a smart save low to his right from an Aguilar shot. Fofana also tried his luck from range, but his well-hit shot sailed just over the bar, whilst early in the second-half, Tchouaméni saw a similar effort dragged wide of the post. ASM’s reliance on long-range, low quality chances is symptomatic of a team that is going through a period of creative deficiency.
ASM may be struggling offensively, yet defensively they have looked much stronger. Having restricted a free-scoring PSV side to a draw on Thursday, they were equally solid here. The only chance of note for Reims came from a long-range Cafaro free-kick, which would have nestled in the bottom corner if not for Nübel’s intervention.
The introduction of Caio Henrique midway through the second-half provided ASM with extra attacking impetus. His deliveries and link-up on the left-flank were a constant source of. It was Henrique who was the provider of the greatest chance of the match in second-half injury time. Cutting back onto his right-foot, Henqrique curled in a sumptuous ball that found Volland free in the box, only a few yards out. With the goal at his mercy, Volland miscued his header and the ball rolled harmlessly wide.
Having had a golden chance to win the game in the dying seconds, Kovac will be disappointed that his side didn’t bring home all three points.
In the post-match press conference, Kovac summarised ASM’s contrasting fortunes in attack and defence, saying: “Defensively, we had a very good match, being very solid and only conceding very few dangerous situations… At the moment we have problems creating and converting chances.”
With the international break next week, Kovac is hoping that when his players return, his side will have a change in fortunes. “I hope that my selected players (for international duty) will benefit from it by playing well and coming back to the club with lots of confidence.”
 
 
Photo source: AS Monaco football club