Europa League: AS Monaco brushed aside by Trabzonspor
Trabzonspor
It was certainly an evening to forget for AS Monaco, as they were emphatically defeated 4-0 by Trabzonspor in their Europa League clash.
The Match
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Facing off against the Turkish giants for the second time in a week after winning 3-1 at home, Les Monegasques couldn’t replicate this performance away, for they were no match for Trabzonspor.
Although the match started evenly, as both teams settled into proceedings, Monaco would eventually begin to exert control. Looking comfortable in possession and generating some promising chances, Philippe Clement’s men certainly appeared the most likely to open the scoring.
But things took a turn for the worse against the run of play when Malang Sarr inadvertently turned the ball into his net following Alexander Nubel’s misplaced pass just before the interval to give the hosts the lead.
The tide then really turned in Trabzonspor’s favour in the second half, for Vitor Hugo quickly doubled their advantage through his 48th minute header. Enis Bardhi added to the pain shortly after when he scored a wicked free kick before Trezeguet capped off the 4-0 rout with 20 minutes left on the clock.
Despite Clement making a host of changes, it just wasn’t Monaco’s night, as the loss now drops them to third in their group with two matches remaining.
Clement’s Debrief
“We started this meeting well. In the first 43 minutes, we dominated and did good things both defensively and offensively. We had many situations but we were not effective. We concede the first goal and then we are not attentive enough on the second, despite a good start to the period,” he reflected.
“Then we stopped playing collectively. During the last few weeks and months, the collective was our strength but today it was not the case after the break and we must learn from it. This shows us that you always have to play as a team to be dominant. We are a team, we win and we lose together. But there are two games left and we still have our destiny in our hands. It’s up to us to do the work.”
By the numbers
While ASM held the ascendancy in terms of expected goals (0.89 to 0.82), total shots (17 to 15), corners (11 to 3), blocked shots (5 to 2) and passes in the opposition half (168 to 165), a clinical Trabzonspor made the most of their chances and punished Monaco for their mistakes to propel them to victory.
Up next
Wanting to immediately put this match in the rear vision mirror and recalibrate their focus, next up for Monaco is Clermont Foot at the Stade Louis II in Ligue 1, where a return to winning ways will be the aim.