Maybe this is the season of surprise and the year of the "under-dogs" in the UEFA Champions league. First, Sevilla were ousted by Premier League fairy tale boys Leicester City, now, Pep Guardiola's Man City side eliminated from the competition by the all firing Monaco team.
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| Monaco celebrating after the final whistle |
AS MONACO
Monaco are top of the standings in the Ligue 1 and that is not a fluke because in Europe, Monaco are the free scoring side with over 100 goals registered to their name. they hold the record for the team with the most goals in Europe's top 5 leagues.
Monaco are giving seasonal league contenders Paris Saint Germain a run for their money. This season, they have not lost to any big side. They drew PSG at home and won at the Stade de Louis II. They beat Nice and are comfortable sitting ontop of the log with 3points.
Credit goes to manager Leonardo Jardim for his incredible transformation for this Monaco team. Once a money bag in France, had all the best players and youth in their ranks; later, they went into financial crisis, the owners were bankrupt following a personal legal matter, thereafter a selling club. They sold all their stars ranging from Anthony Martial, Geoffery Kongdobia, Layvin Kurzawa, Yannick Ferriera-Carassco, James Rodriguez, Carl Medjani and loaned out Radamel Falcao to Manchester United.
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| Leonardo Jardim |
Irrespective of these situation, the team made it up for their loss and continued to soar and develop more players, thanks to their academy. Leonardo Jardim is a genius, how he managed to set up this team, is still a mystery. They have gone about their business quietly and have not displayed fear on facing any opponent. They are tenacious and committed to their duties on the field of play.
Match Report:
Man City went into this game with a 2goal advantage, winning the first leg by 5-3 at the Etihad some forth night ago. A game that was full of live and gave us goals. However, Monaco had shown from the first leg that they are capable of anything. In a stadium they haven't lost a game this season; the Stade de Louis II is their fortress.
At the sound of the whistle, Monaco are already 1-goal up from a Kylian Mbappe goal in the 3rd minute. It didn't end there because captain of the night, Fabinho made it 2-nil in the 29th minute. Monaco were without captain Radamel Falcao and defender Kamil Glik, yet, they weren't suppressed by their absence as young protege, Mbappe and others stepped up their game.
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| Monaco team celebrating win over Man City |
One funny thing about this Monaco side is: They haven't been so reliant on any star player to win games, everyone in the team have contributed their own fair share of goals.
However, it was a terrible night for Man City as strikers Kun Aguero and Raheem Sterling were culprits of chances wasted. A thing Pep Guardiola will rue for his entire season. The amount of chances missed by the Man City team could have seen them through.
Man City pulled one back through German International Leroy Sane in the second half (71') but 6 minutes later, Bakayoko was on hand to make the tie far from their reach as he slammed a late header to send his Monaco team through. In the dying seconds, it was a counter attack for Man City when 4 men was against 2 Monaco players and Sterling made a wrong choice with the ball and ballooned a cross over to the other side of throwing. It was all over and Monaco winning by 3-1 (6-6) on aggregate completed the Log for the teams to qualify to the next round.
Guardiola: "We will improve but this competition is so demanding.
Sometimes we have to be special and be lucky. Tonight we were not."
"We played exceptionally 2nd half but we forgot to do that in the first. We were better in the second but it wasn't enough."
Stones: "We weren't clinical enough in both boxes. We didn't score enough and weren't defensively solid."
Leonardo Jardim "I have often dreamt about tonight... I think that playing against English teams seems to suit us well..."
"We knocked out the 2nd placed team in the Premier League tonight. This absolutely shows the quality of French football."
Teams that have qualified for the next round of the UEFA Champions league
Bayern Munich - Germany
Borussia Dortmund - Germany
Barcelona - Spain
Real Madrid - Spain
AS Monaco - France
Leicester City - England
Juventus - Italy
Atletico Madrid - Spain
So, Spain lead the race. However, this year's competition has given us surprises. We wait to see what the draws hold after Friday, 17th March, 2017. 12.00 CET.
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