AS Monaco beat Barcelona of their opening match of the Champions League marketing campaign, with objectives from Maghnes Akliouche (16′) and substitute George Ilenikhena (71′), both facet of a strike by Lamine Yamal (28′), giving the Ligue 1 facet victory over the Catalan giants.
The duty the house facet confronted on this match was made notably simpler by Barcelona defender Eric Garcia incomes a straight purple card lower than 10 minutes in.
Monaco’s triumph was actually deserved, however the basic feeling is that Barcelona had been the crew which influenced the result extra.
The groups
Each groups had been organized in a 4-2-3-1 form. Monaco boss Adi Hutter had Philipp Kohn in purpose, with Thilo Kehrer and Mohammed Salisu forming the centre-back partnership, whereas Wilfried Singo and Vanderson lined the defensive flanks. Denis Zakaria and Lamine Camara paired up in the course of the park, whereas the trio of Akliouche, Takumi Minamino and Eliesse Ben Seghir supported striker Breel Embolo.
In the meantime, Hansi Flick within the away dugout named Marc-Andre ter Stegen between the posts. Inigo Martinez joined Pau Curbasi within the coronary heart of defence, with Alejandro Balde on the left and Jules Kounde on the precise. Garcia, although often a defender, performed in midfield, alongside facet Marc Casado. Within the absence of the injured Dani Olmo, Pedri operated just a little additional up within the No. 10 function, with Yamal and Raphinha attacking from the flanks, and Robert Lewandowski enjoying as the point of interest in assault.
Ter Stegen’s errors accountable for Barcelona defeat
Ter Stegen is, in fact, a world-class goalkeeper who has rightly inherited the function of Germany’s No. 1 from Manuel Neuer after the Euros this 12 months. He now has 42 caps for his nation, and with 419 matches for Barcelona beneath his belt, together with 5 La Liga titles and a Champions League medal to his title, the 32-year-old actually boasts loads of top-level expertise. Nonetheless, all these achievements solely make the errors he made on this match extra obtrusive.
There was nothing Ter Stegen might’ve completed to stop Akliouche’s opener within the sixteenth minute – it was a very implausible purpose from the Monaco winger. But it surely was him who put Garcia in an enormous drawback which preceded the purple card as Minamino’s press robbed the Barcelona midfielder of the ball, and making an attempt with all his may to stop his crew from conceding a purpose, Garcia introduced the previous Liverpool man down, denying a transparent goalscoring alternative.
There might be no dialogue concerning the determination of referee Allard Lindhout from Netherlands to brandish the purple card, however why precisely Ter Stegen selected to move to him when he had different choices is tough to grasp.
Enjoying for over 80 minutes a person down, the truth that Barcelona had no extra that 44% possession within the match isn’t to be questioned at, and the identical goes for the Catalans taking a complete of 4 photographs whereas Monaco had 18. Nonetheless, it may be argued {that a} crew aiming to win the title in considered one of Europe’s prime 5 leagues and the Champions League merely can’t enable themselves to be outplayed like that, even
Ter Stegen can’t be blamed immediately for the Monaco winner, on condition that his teammates allowed Ilenikhena to interrupt clear and take him on one-on-one, however the shot, although highly effective, was aimed virtually straight on the Barcelona ‘keeper, who didn’t divert it sufficiently to stop it from getting in. That’s one other factor that shouldn’t be occurring to such a confirmed shot-stopper.
After the match, Ter Stegen stated he and Garcia didn’t talk very nicely within the scenario which led to the purple card, however that assertion places a query mark over his means to take duty for his errors too.
One dangerous sport doesn’t imply the world coming to an finish, but when they’re going to remain within the race for the largest trophies this season, Barcelona will want their goalkeeper to place his errors behind him and carry out a lot better than he did in opposition to Monaco.
