AS Monaco got their Ligue 1 campaign off to a winning start, beating newly-promoted AS Saint-Étienne (1-0) at a packed Stade Louis II on Saturday evening.
It is a season like no other for Monaco, who celebrate their centenary later this month. With Champions League football also returning to the Principality, it is a season that promises to be special, and it got off to the perfect start.
This opening day was less about the Principality club and more about Saint-Étienne, a fallen giant of French football back on the rise following promotion to the top flight last season. Over 14,000 fans packed into the Stade Louis II, and many of them were supporting Les Verts, who were in an understandably festive mood as they returned to the elite.
Breel Embolo almost silenced them in the third minute with a bullet header from close range, but Gautier Larsonneur was equal to the effort, parrying the shot away.
Whilst Monaco looked superior for large periods, controlling the game through the impressive duo of newly-apppointed club captain Denis Zakaria and new signing Lamine Camara, Saint-Étienne created chances of their own on the break. All of them fell to Ibrahim Sissoko, and luckily for Monaco, he wasn’t in clinical form, squandering a number of chances throughout the game, notably failing to beat Philipp Köhn in a one-on-one.
Sissoko denied twice by the offside flag for Saint-Étienne
The Principality club thought they had taken the lead through Takumi Minamino, only for a tight offside call to deny the Japanese international. Sissoko had the ball in the back of the Monaco net just seconds later, but his effort was ruled out for a much more obvious offside call.
Minamino had the ball in the back of the net once again seven minutes later, but there was no reaction from the forward with the flag immediately raised. However, this time, VAR came to Monaco’s rescue, with the Japanese forward adjudged to have been marginally offside.
Heading into the second half, Monaco continued to dominate, but they couldn’t add to their advantage, despite creating a set of good half-chances. The fear of being punished for profligacy was always there and it was seemingly realised with just under 20 minutes remaining.
Sissoko found the back of the net for the second time on the night, latching on to Zuriko Davitashvili’s cross. With the game about to restart, a collective sigh of relief spread around the Stade Louis II with Davitashvili adjudged to be ever-so marginally offside.
Despite losing captain Zakaria, and Eliesse Ben Seghir to cramp, Monaco held on to secure the victory that, according to manager Adi Hütter, was more resounding than the scoreline suggested.
Hütter unhappy with state of Stade Louis II pitch
“I’m happy with the result. When you look [at the score], it looks like a 50/50 game but with the chances we had, we could have won by many more; we should have scored more goals,” said the Monaco manager.
Whilst Hütter called for improvements from his side, both in defence and in attack, he also called for improvements to the recently relaid surface at the Stade Louis II, which was not up to scratch for the return of Ligue 1 football.
“The pitch wasn’t good, not in a top condition […] the people in charge should work as quick as possible to bring it into a decent condition,” he said. With Monaco travelling to face Lyon next week, groundstaff have a fortnight, until the arrival of Lens on 1st September, to get the pitch up to scratch.
An imperfect performance, an imperfect pitch too, but Monaco ensured that this special centenary season got off to the perfect start.
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Photo source: AS Monaco