FC Barcelona lost 1-2 away to AS Monaco in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League phase of the 2024-2025 season at the Stade Louis II in Fontvieille, Monaco, at 4 a.m. ET on Tuesday.
Beginning this season, the Champions League will eliminate the group stage, with 36 teams qualifying for the knockout stages and then facing eight randomly drawn teams, two from each of the four ports, with the results determining who advances to the knockout rounds. Of the 36 teams, teams ranked 1-8 will advance directly to the Round of 16, while teams ranked 9-24 will be paired in a two-team playoff. The winner of these matches will advance to the round of 16.
Barcelona, who have set out to conquer Europe under head coach Pep Guardiola, brought out their best lineup for this match, but were undone by the sending-off factor.
Barcelona went with a 4-2-3-1 formation. Robert Lewandowski was up front, with Zafinha, Pedri, and Ramin Yamal in the attacking two. Erik Garcia-Marc Casado filled out the midfield, while Alex Valde-Igo Martinez-Pau Kubarsi-Jules Kunde formed the back four. Marc-Andre ter Stegen was in goal.
Ten minutes into the first half, Barcelona were down to ten men. Eric Garcia committed a rough foul on Takumi Minamino and the referee immediately showed the red card.
Monaco, who had the numerical advantage early on, took the lead in the 16th minute through Magnes Akliouche.
Barcelona equalized. Yamal collected a long pass, dribbled and finished with a low, quick shot to split the Monaco goal. With his Champions League debut goal at 17 years and 68 days old, Yamal became the second-youngest player to score in the Champions League, behind Ansu Fatih (17 years and 40 days).
Monaco scored the winning goal. Ilenikena, who switched to Monaco from Royal Antwerp this summer, received a pass from behind and found himself one-on-one with the keeper, 카지노사이트 and he didn’t miss his chance.
The game ended in a victory for Monaco.
After the match, the Spanish publication Mundo Deportivo published an interview with Barcelona coach Hanzi Flick.
“The game changed after the 10th minute when the sending off happened. We had to change our game plan, our strategy. We tried until the end. We defended with passion, but we made some mistakes. I saw a lot of positives in the game. We had our chances, but in the end they put in some fast players and they deserved to win,” said the coach.
“We didn’t play at the highest level, we didn’t play the way we wanted to play. We have to accept that. I’m sure we will be stronger when the other players return.”
Flick emphasized the need to move on quickly ahead of the match against Villarreal the following day.
“There was disappointment in the locker room and I told the players that now we have to recover for Sunday’s game. La Liga is important and we need to keep picking up points. We need to analyze the game and talk to the players about what we did wrong,” he said.
He added: “It won’t be easy, but we have to recover our energy. We lost the game. We have to come back stronger and we have to recover. We have a game on Sunday, and we have to give our best and fight for the team. And that’s what we’re going to continue to do.”
Despite the somewhat subdued mood, Flick added: “We are a strong enough team to do well in the Champions League. There are still seven games left and we will achieve our goal.”
