Month: February 2022

Monaco were held to a goalless draw by Ligue 1 strugglers Lorient on Sunday, bringing to an end a five-game winning streak at the Stade Louis II.

With the 5,000 capacity limit lifted hours before kick-off, fans filed into the sun-drenched stadium, hoping to see the home-side close in on the podium after Nice dropped points the night before.

This was to be a frustrating afternoon, however, as Lorient’s game plan became obvious from the offset. The Breton side came to the Principality seemingly with the intention of taking a point back with them. Sitting in a low-block, Lorient looked to stifle Monaco’s creativity.

Monaco, for their part, lacked patience in their build-up, resorting to often poorly-executed long-balls. Nevertheless, Monaco dominated possession, and that dominance did yield a smattering of first-half chances. Vanderson, starting his first Ligue 1 match for Monaco, should have hit the target with an early header. Whilst Sofiane Diop had a tame effort saved late in the first-half.

The recently prolific Wissam Ben Yedder, who has scored in his last seven outings, struggled to have an influence on the game. The Frenchman cut a frustrated figure, as he was limited to a handful of touches, a mere 28 throughout the whole fixture.

Far from incisive in the first-half, Monaco found chances even harder to come by in the second. Lacking in incision, precision and dynamism, Monaco rarely threatened the Lorient goal. The best chance of the match fell to Ben Yedder late-on, his glancing header from close range diverted to safety by the feet of Matthieu Dreyer in the Lorient goal.

The frustration and desperation for a late goal was epitomised by Maghnes Akliouche’s dive in the Lorient box, his attempt to procure a penalty, met with a yellow card for simulation. The full-time whistle was greeted with groans from the home crowd, a drab, goalless draw an unsatisfying reward for a match in which they dominated possession 65%.

Post-match Philippe Clement credited Lorient for their defensive performance, saying, “It is difficult playing against a team that commits 9/10 players to the defensive effort, and a keeper who makes some good saves on his line. Just like that you lose two points unnecessarily.”

Clement also praised his own side’s performance, despite lacking a clinical edge. Under Clement, Monaco have now kept four clean sheets in five Ligue 1 matches, whilst his predecessor Niko Kovac only kept three in the previous 19 in the competition. “My team did a lot of things well today. I am certainly happy about the clean sheet, because it’s not as if we’re playing defensively, it’s not as if we’re not playing to score. We are playing an offensive game, but with all of the players putting in the hard work.”

In the race for the European places, any dropped points can be crucial. A win against lowly Bordeaux next Sunday is therefore crucial in their fight for European football next season.

Top photo by Luke Entwistle, Monaco Life 

Arnaud Alessandria finished his Winter Olympics in style on Wednesday, securing the best finish by any Olympic Monegasque skier with a 13th place in the Men’s Combined race.

Feeding off of his strong performances in the Men’s Downhill (29th) and the Super-G (31st), Alessandria tackled the third and final race of his Olympic Games in-front of Prince Albert II, who has had a front-row seat of the flag-bearer’s games.

An event of two halves, Alessandria first tackled the Downhill. A time of 1:45.79, which saw him finish 1.92 seconds off the quickest run, was enough to secure a 15th place finish. “I had a good run, and I was happy with myself,” Alessandria said after the race.

Attention immediately then turned to his less preferred slalom race, which would see him tackle the slopes of Beijing for the last time in these games. The focus for Alessandria was on damage limitation. “It (slalom) isn’t my cup of tea at all. The objective was to arrive at the bottom inflicting as little damage as possible,” he said.

A finishing time of 2:44.20 was enough for Alessandria to write his own bit of Monegasque sporting history, as he secured the highest place finish of any Monegasque skier in a Winter Olympics.

He finished 12.77 seconds off Austrian winner Johannes Strolz, who narrowly beat Norwegian Aleksandr Aamodt Kilde to the gold, whilst Canadian James Crawford rounded off the podium.

Alessandria registered a DNF in the same event during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, making his record-breaking performance on the slopes of Yanqing an even more impressive fear. “I didn’t expect it,” he admitted afterwards.

His trainer Jacques Pastor praised his performance and character following the result, saying, “He has been valiant. Beyond his sporting bravery is his human bravery, to want to engage himself for the past years, and for wanting to take risks. We are in the court of the greats, we’re not here to make up the number, and today that paid off.”

Prince Albert, who has been an ever-present at Alessandria’s races, was complimentary of his performances. “These opening results are really very encouraging,” said the Prince. “His 13th place finish in the Combined was a magnificent result. I am very happy for him.”

Although the Prince’s attendance at the Games is coming to an end, Monegasque involvement is far from complete. The bobsleigh duo of Rudy Rinaldi and Boris Vain are yet to take to the track, and Prince Albert II, a former Olympian in the sport himself, is optimistic about their chances. “Our bobsleigh team has done a very good official training. Rinaldi and Vain are feeling well, they have no physical problems and the morale is good. That is therefore a good omen for some very good results, we all hope that.”

Photos source: Monegasque Olympic Committee

AS Monaco Basketball’s inability to kill-off games once again proved costly on Thursday, as bottom side Zalgiris snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, having trailed for almost the entire match.

Zalgiris only led for a total of 17 seconds during the fixture. Their timing was impeccable however, as they crucially hit the front for the first-time at the end of the fourth-quarter. Mike James had a chance to win the game in the dying seconds, but under-pressure he couldn’t convert his three-point attempt.

It was a match of two-halves at the Salle Gaston Medecin. Monaco largely dominated the first two-quarters (46-36), but let their grasp slip in a crucial third-quarter in which the Lithuanian side closed the gap.

Donta Hall’s on–the-buzzer field-goal gave the home side some breathing room going into the fourth, but that failed to reverse the trend. Monaco still maintained a slender advantage, but that was surrendered with minutes to spare. Five unreplied points from Zalgiris’ Niels Giffey brought the difference down to a single point. The decisive points were scored by Lukas Lekavicius, his two two-pointers in the final minute sealing Monaco’s fate 82-83.

Post-match, Sasa Obradovic bemoaned the lack of cohesion of his side’s performance, saying, “They (Zalgiris) played like a team. We did not play as a team. When you just use your talent and play basketball as a team, you give a chance to someone else who is doing this.”

The defeat is a huge disappointment for a team that has put in so much effort to reach the top eight in the Euroleague in recent weeks. Roca Team player Yakuba Ouattara said, “This defeat hurts us after all of the work that we have done.”

Defeat sees Monaco slump to 11th in the standings, leaving them with work to do in order to catch up to their play-off rivals, many of whom have games in hand. Before that, attention will once again shift back to the domestic competition as they face a trip to Lyon-Villeurbanne on Sunday.

Photo source: AS Monaco Basketball