A third French club, after Brest and Lille, reaching the round of 32: it is difficult to be surprised, given that this round of 16 actually corresponds to the first group round of 32 teams in the old formula Champions League, but the Monegasques will not care. In crisis in recent weeks (two matches out of ten won in French competitions), beaten on Friday on the lawn of the red lantern Montpellier, the players of the Principality will have had the privilege of a (rare) visit from the big boss Dimitri Rybolovlev in their locker room at the Stade Louis-II after their short success (1-0) over Aston Villa on Tuesday January 21, a sign that things were serious.
Monaco with forceps
«We were able to correct our defensive errorsexplained Swiss international Breel Embolo after the match. Criticism happens in football. But the most important thing is to overcome them, to surpass yourself and that’s what we showed [contre Aston Villa] by being solid. It was important for the coach, for the group but also for everyone, because it was a bit hard in the head. It will really do us good.» «Everyone fought like a lion on the fieldadded defender Christian Mawissa. We communicated well with each other too. This is a significant success.»
Adi Hütter, the Monaco coach: “We showed great courage to hold the score [le but monégasque de Wilfried Singo a été marqué tôt, dès la 8e minute, ndlr]. This gives us confidence and shows that we can win matches despite this dark period. We qualified for the play-offs, that was the main objective of the season.” Barely extrapolating, the players’ state of mind after the match was mainly one of relief. The ASM could not fail. Comfortably installed in the standings before the meeting, Aston Villa did not come to gamble for their scalp on the Rock and it showed, even if the English team based in Birmingham remained with high standards.
The Monegasque players will thus have seized the opportunity, like their entire journey in this Champions League since they will have beaten two weak teams before this seventh day (the Red Star of Belgrade and Bologna), benefited from a joker penalty at the end of the match in Zagreb (2-2) and hit a FC Barcelona reduced to ten after eight minutes, which we must do anyway. And if Hütter is known for settling with the truth as soon as a microphone is raised, he is right on one point: Tuesday, the Monegasques fought from start to finish, with all the more merit as nothing has been easy in the game for weeks. ASM will visit Inter Milan in a week.
-Lille pushes the walls
There is a form of Lille magic this season in the Champions League: giving rewarding things to see in all circumstances, even on defeat nights, also a sign that we want to see them look good after the exploits (the two great beaten Madrid clubs) which marked their start to the competition. Jonathan David and others fell (1-2) in Liverpool, they were even dominated to an immense extent, they recognized it without arguing and, yet, something positive was implicit in the declarations of one and the other . The standing of the opponent, both leader in the Champions League and the Premier League, which makes them the best team on the planet to date, necessarily changes the perspective. The goalkeeper, Lucas Chevalier: “It remains a defeat, we cannot be satisfied with that. Afterwards yes, it is certain that we came up against a superior team, which hurts a lot when it accelerates. They missed a lot of chances too. But it makes us grow in the sense that, facing these players, everything goes faster. Everything they do is unpredictable, which forces you to be reactionary, with no ability to anticipate. We don’t “feel” what they are going to do. There, you still tell yourself that Liverpool are a notch higher.»
“I have a mixed feeling because there is also pride, explained the northern coach, Bruno Genesio. I liked the look my team showed a lot, especially in the second half when we were 10 against 11. [expulsion du défenseur Aïssa Mandi à la 59e minute]. If we keep this quality, we will be capable of great things. We were disciplined tactically and defensively, we hampered this Liverpool team a lot but we were a little timid, timid in our offensive play. There were better things to do in using the ball. We lacked a little madness to cause more problems for our opponents.»
If we replace the word “madness” with the expression “offensive talent”, we undoubtedly see a little more clearly in the thoughts of the Lille coach. The northern team’s limits do exist, but the players constantly work to push and fight them. It’s football. Losc will finish at home next week with the (arduous) reception of Feyenoord Rotterdam, with a possible direct qualification for the round of 16 if successful.
