Many : Single (8e)
Adi Hütter had warned the day before: there was no question of playing it easy to secure a point against Aston Villa. His players listened to him and applied his instructions this Tuesday evening, pocketing the three points against the Birmingham club (1-0), who had not lost in five games and who hoped to break into the top 5 in this Champions League. This is exactly what Monaco needed to validate their ticket for the play-offs, at least, and also regain confidence in a period where doubt was seriously starting to set in around a team in a crisis of results.
Singo and Majecki were everywhere
The return of captain Denis Zakaria, ill and absent last week against Montpellier, was necessarily good news for the guys from the Principality. The midfielder has been an essential part of the Monaco team since the start of the season, but he has stepped aside to leave the spotlight to Wilfried Singo and Radosław Majecki. The locals started by leaving the ball to their opponents, without depriving themselves of attacking very early in the game with a weapon that they particularly like: a set piece. A corner kicked by Lamine Camara, in this case, on which Thilo Kehrer rose in the air to give work to Emiliano Martinez, surprised in the process by the great Singo who followed to place his header in the back of the net (1-0, 8e).
In the presence of the Stéphan family, Roberto Mancini and of course Prince Albert II, ASM recalled that it had the qualities to compete with a solid Premier League team. If the Argentinian goalkeeper, whistled by the Monegasque public, extinguished a fuse lit by Maghnes Akliouche (15e), his Polish counterpart had opportunities to shine and leave Monaco ahead in the score. Here is an anthology: a well-timed outing ahead of Ollie Watkins (29e), a free kick from Lucas Digne easily captured (31e), a firm hand to frustrate Leon Bailey (37e), or a nice horizontal to get a shot from Watkins, who had slipped into the area (45e+2). In short, a good job as a goalkeeper, perfectly complemented by a very strong Singo, as in this well-felt tackle to repel a cross from Morgan Rogers (26e), who also missed the opportunity to equalize upon returning from the locker room (47e).
A match against Inter to hope for the top 8?
As it turns out, this AS Monaco has some remedies to cure it, basically quality in every line. In tough times recently, the promising Akilouche ate his fingers before the intermission, sending the ball over despite an ideal position in the area (45e+3), then stopped celebrating the 2-0 after seeing the referee signal (logically) an offside after seeing him cut a cross from Vanderson (50e). Make no mistake, it was not a walk in the park for the Monegasques either, who had to turn their backs to contain Villa's enterprising, but unable to deceive Majecki's vigilance or to destabilize Singo, definitely in great form this Tuesday evening.
-Like Matty Cash and his two balls of 1-1 (59e69e), still less obvious than that of the break wasted by Takumi Minamino, guilty of having completely skipped his friend Breel Embolo on his left (64e). Not being at the peak of his confidence did not prevent the Swiss striker from trying a return in the open area, without success (76e), a few seconds after a save from Tyrone Mings in front of Aleksandr Golovin (75e). After giving a lot and thanks to Hütter's changes to bring freshness, the locals finished better, letting themselves slide calmly towards the final whistle and happily celebrating three essential points. Before, why not, going for a place in the top 8 next week in Milan.
Relive Monaco – Aston Villa (1-0)
Related News :