AS Monaco twice found the back of the net against Marseille but left the Vélodrome goalless and pointless on Sunday night, as Sébastien Pocognoli’s side succumbed to a fifth defeat in six Ligue 1 games (0-1).
The Vélodrome was engulfed by a thick layer of smoke, the result of an impressive pyrotechnic display by the home fans ahead of kick-off. The game was consequently delayed by 10 minutes, but as the smoke began to clear, Monaco’s heads were still in the clouds. Marseille had two clear sights of goal inside the opening six minutes. Thankfully for the Monégasques, Lukas Hradecky was more alert than the defenders in front of him.
His minor deflection from Mason Greenwood’s cross meant that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang couldn’t easily tap home at the back-post, and the former Arsenal and Chelsea centre-forward was foiled again when Hradecky got a strong hand on his chipped effort from almost point-blank range.
Monaco players “don’t understand” controversial offside call
But having survived an early barrage, the Principality club grew into the game. Aleksandr Golovin forced Geronimo Rulli into a save before Takumi Minamino tested the OM goalkeeper with a half-volley. Rulli wasn’t able to deal with Folarin Balogun’s effort just before half-time, but Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg was there to sweep up.
Marseille started the second half in the same manner that Monaco started the first – daydreaming. It took just 14 seconds for Monaco to work a glorious opening that was not finished by Minamino, who could not find the target. But Les Monégasques kept their foot on the accelerator and had the ball in the back of the net through Lamine Camara; a highly contentious Balogun offside call in the build-up caused the effort to be ruled out. “We looked at the images [of the offside] in the dressing room post-match, and we don’t understand it,” reacted Camara post-match.
Momentum regularly swung, and Marseille worked another flurry of chances of their own. Hradecky needed Thilo Kehrer’s help to clear a close-range Matt O’Riley effort off the line before Aubameyang and Greenwood went close. But if Hradecky was Monaco’s hero in the first half, Minamino was the villain of the second.
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A sweeping cross-field ball from Denis Zakaria was perfectly collected by the Japan international, who, one-on-one, struck straight at Rulli. The Argentine would be beaten again, this time by Balogun, only for the offside flag to once again deny the Monaco forward, and then just seconds later, OM had the ball in the net for the first time, and this one would count.
Lightning struck twice as Greenwood, who scored the late winner in this same fixture last season, fired past Hradecky. Monaco still had the chance to salvage a point and would have done so if not for some last-ditch defending from Nayef Aguerd, who swept up after Mika Biereth had rounded Rulli after the Argentine’s excellent save from George Ilenikhena. With all three of Monaco’s strikers on the pitch, Pocognoli threw everything, including the kitchen sink. But as they did last season, ASM leave the Vél with a sinking feeling, despite a positive performance. When Pocognoli uses the word “disappointment” eight times in his first answer in the post-match press conference, there is no doubting the predominant emotion.
“Will we use it to rebel and to continue putting in good performances, or will we look for excuses?” he then asked. It is the big question as Monaco look to make up a gap that, following this defeat, has now become a chasm between themselves and the Champions League qualification places. “We have to keep fighting,” said Camara after an OM sucker-punch that leaves Monaco’s season on the ropes.
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Photo source: AS Monaco