Before this meeting, the pundits were slightly in favour of the Catalans. Hansi Flick’s team had an unexpectedly strong start in the Spanish Primera Division, achieving five wins in five games. After the triumphant European Championship in Germany, 17-year-old Lamin Yamal is still playing alone; with Flick’s arrival, Robert Lewandowski scored again and the rest of the players improved noticeably.
Monaco is also not doing badly at the start of the season, but Barcelona still has a superior class of players. However, the Monegasques were not going to give up just yet. And when the Catalans were outnumbered in the tenth minute after Eric Garcia was sent off, it became clear: the red-and-whites have a unique opportunity to beat Barça for the first time in history. Before that, in both matches between these teams, the “blue-garnets” were stronger: 2-0 and 1-0 (in the Champions League in the 1993/94 season).
Photo: MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP
Having gained numerical superiority, Monaco opened the scoring: Magnes Akliusz scored in the 16th minute. However, the Catalans equalised before the break thanks to the efforts of Yamal. During the break, home coach Adi Hutter sent on Russian Alexander Golovin. The former CSKA midfielder added solidity in the centre of the field and the Monegasques achieved their goal: in the 71st minute, substitute George Ilenikena put the game to bed 2-1.
The rest of the matches of the day had the following results: Feyenoord (Netherlands) – Bayer (Germany) – 0:4, Red Star (Serbia) – Benfica (Portugal) – 1:2, Atalanta (Italy) – Arsenal (England) – 0:0, Atlético (Spain) – Leipzig (Germany) – 2:1, Brest (France) – Sturm (Austria) – 2:1.
