Ligue 1: AS Monaco suffer heartbreaking defeat vs. Marseille
Having taken the lead through Aleksandr Golovin, two second-half goals from Olympique de Marseille were ultimately enough for them to prevail, as Mason Greenwood’s penalty at the death proved the difference.
The Match
Fresh from a frustrating loss to Benfica in the Champions League, Adi Hutter made four changes to his side from that clash, as he brought in Christian Mawissa, Mohammed Salisu, Soungoutou Magassa and Folarin Balogun.
Advertising
Jumping out of the blocks to almost take the lead inside five minutes through Eliesse Ben Seghir, the away team immediately underlined their threat.
Marseille would gain control for the next portion of the match, highlighting what a force to be reckoned with they are in possession. Growing into the game with their pressing and quality with the ball at their feet, Roberto De Zerbi’s team looked the most likely to open the scoring.
Les Monegasques flipped the script, however, and hit the front just before the interval courtesy of Golovin’s strike after a slick counter.
While ASM came close to doubling their advantage through Wilfried Singo to kick-off the second stanza, Luis Henrique equalised for Marseille in the 53rd minute following an untimely error by Salisu.
Denis Zakaria’s dangerous attempt wasn’t far off powering Monaco back ahead, as Greenwood also fired off a decent strike.
Breel Embolo, Takumi Minamino and Kassoum Ouattara were introduced by Hutter to give his team some fresh legs. And this switch almost immediately bore fruit, for Minamino unleashed a shot into the side netting.
Disaster struck late again for Les Rouge et Blanc, with OM being awarded a penalty for a handball on Mawissa, which Greenwood duly converted to secure all three points for Marseille.
A brutal way to lose for Monaco indeed, especially given how goals at the death cost them dearly vs. Benfica as well.
Hutter’s Debrief
“We don’t deserve this defeat tonight in my opinion. When I look at the whole game, we have to take at least one point. But at this level, the two errors we give are obviously too many. Clearly the first goal is a gift from us, and on the second, it’s a situation that we see often and which leads to a penalty,” he reflected.
“We had more chances throughout the match, but these two gifts weighed us down. In any case, it was a decent match from us, and I don’t think Olympique de Marseille were a better team than us tonight.
“We also recently lost two games in a row against Nice and Angers, and before that we won three in a row. So we have to get back on track very quickly, as we have already done. This defeat is hard to accept, because we didn’t deserve to lose. But once again, when you make two mistakes like that at this level, you pay.”
Key Stats
By the numbers, the fact OM held the ascendancy in terms of expected goals (1.95 to 1.02), total shots (9 to 7), passes in the opposition half (228 to 127), touches inside the box (18 to 15) and possession (63% to 37%) illustrated the edge they had going forward even though it was a match that was decided by razor-thin margins.
Up Next
All of Monaco’s attention and focus will now turn to their encounter with Toulouse at the Stade Louis II next weekend, where they’ll be determined to bounce back and return to winning ways.