Ligue 1: AS Monaco secures vital away win at Saint-Etienne to regain second

AS Monaco secured a decisive victory at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard against a combative AS Saint-Etienne. Thanks to this triumph, Adi Hutter’s men temporarily powered back into second in Ligue 1 and strengthened their Champions League qualification hopes.

The Match

After drawing 1-1 against Le Havre last time out, Monaco were keen to redeem themselves in the final sprint for the podium and the Champions League. And Hutter picked a strong team that he knew could get the job done, as Folarin Balogun, Takumi Minamino, Christian Mawissa and Soungoutou Magassa (in place of the suspended Lamine Camara) were brought into the starting line-up.

Kicking off the contest superbly in front of 500 Monaco supporters, Les Monegasques raced to an early lead inside two minutes through Maghnes Akliouche, who coolly applied the finishing touch to Caio Henrique’s brilliant delivery.

Fresh from scoring their fastest goal of the season, the aim was to carry on their momentum. And, despite Irvin Cardona coming close and Mika Biereth going off injured (replaced by Breel Embolo), they maintained their danger as Breel Embolo fired off a decent effort.

The exciting Akliouche kept posing a massive threat, with him not far off grabbing another near the half-hour mark, only for Gautier Larsonneur to deny the Frenchman.

Entering the interval with a one-goal advantage, it was clear how determined Les Rouge et Blanc were to secure all three points, as the likes of Embolo and Balogun unleashed strikes on net to begin the second stanza.

Against the run of play, however, ASSE frustratingly levelled the ledger through Zuriko Davitashvili to throw a spanner in the works for ASM.

Monaco wasted little time in responding, though, for Moatasem Al-Musrati propelled his team back ahead with a terrific blast from outside the box.

Knowing they couldn’t rest on their laurels, Monaco duly extended their lead further when Balogun slotted home expertly following some more wonderful work by Akliouche.

Despite toiling until the final whistle, Les Verts ultimately failed to breach the resolute Monaco defence in the closing stages, thus ensuring ASM clinched a vital 1-3 win.

Hutter’s Debrief

“I’m really happy that we managed to win this match in Saint-Etienne. Looking at the 90 minutes, I would say that it was a deserved victory, but I also want to congratulate the Saint-Etienne team. It’s never easy to come and play here when you see the atmosphere created by the crowd and the style of play proposed by this team which, in my opinion, does not deserve the place it occupies in the table,” explained the Austrian tactician.

“We opened the scoring early with one of the best counter attacks I’ve ever seen and responded quickly after the equaliser thanks to Moatasem Al-Musrati’s first goal for AS Monaco. I’m also very happy for Folarin Balogun, who managed to score after his long injury.”

Key Stats

By the numbers, the fact ASM held the ascendancy in terms of expected goals (1.78 to 0.72), total shots (12 to 11), shots on target (6 to 1), big chances created (4 to 2), touches inside the box (28 to 19) and overall duels won (50 to 45) illustrated they were good value for their win.

Two To Go

Les Monegasques’ next game is set for next Saturday at the Stade Louis II vs Olympique Lyonnais, in what promises to be a thrilling final home clash of the campaign, where another win would take ASM a step closer to qualifying for the prestigious Champions League.