Coupe de France: AS Monaco overcome Lens on penalties in a thriller
AS Monaco’s first game of the new year ended with a thrilling victory, as they defeated RC Lens in the Coupe de France following a tense penalty shootout.
The Match
Missing a host of key players due to international duty, injuries and suspension, Adi Hutter still selected a strong side that notably featured new signing Thilo Kehrer in defence for his ASM debut.
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Racing out of the blocks in scintillating style, Wissam Ben Yedder propelled Les Monegasques into the lead within the first minute to bag his ninth goal of the season.
Dominant and playing with real intent, it wasn’t long until Monaco doubled their advantage when Maghnes Akliouche found the back of the net with a quality finish following a sublime cross from Kassoum Ouattara.
This then proved the catalyst for Lens to begin mounting a comeback, as Elye Wahi and Przemyslaw Frankowski fired off some decent attempts before Faitout Maouassa halved the deficit with his deflected strike.
Entering the second half with the lead despite a penalty shout for Lens in the closing stages of the first half, the home side came out firing in their quest to get back on level terms. Florian Sotoca then did just that to get Les Sang et Or back on equal footing through his smartly placed finish.
The two continued to trade blows, as Hutter’s changes breathed some life into ASM to see them cut a more dangerous proposition.
Ultimately, however, the game was to be decided by a dreaded penalty shootout, with the away side coming up trumps, as Soungoutou Magassa secured the victory after some heroics by man of the match Radoslaw Majecki between the sticks.
Hutter’s Debrief
“Opposite us, there was a great team, very combative, and we knew that we were dealing with a team worthy of the Champions League. I was satisfied with our start, we were very good during the first 35 minutes,” explained the Austrian tactician.
“I have also never seen a penalty shootout like this, with a lot of misses, but also a lot of saves. I would like to congratulate Radoslaw Majecki, but also Brice Samba, they both had a good match. We will now return to Monaco with good energy.
“RC Lens plays in Europe, came out of a difficult Champions League group, has very good, physical players, as well as a good style of play. My men had to win from the start, that’s what they did, but afterwards, we gave away easy balls, we lost too many duels. They subsequently became more aggressive. We know that they put a lot of intensity in the first 30 minutes, so we tried to do even more. We succeeded.”
Key Stats
By the numbers, the fact ASM were beaten in terms of possession, total shots, shots on target and expected goals underlined their fighting spirit and determination that saw them prevail in the end.
Up Next
Having secured their passage into the next stage of the cup, AS Monaco will now turn their attention back to Ligue 1 action, where they’ll be taking on Reims next weekend at the Stade Louis II, as they hope to keep up their positive momentum.