Barcelona suffered its first aggressive defeat underneath Hansi Flick in its Champions League opening match.
Barcelona bought off to a flying begin in its 2024–25 La Liga marketing campaign. The Catalans discovered 5 wins in 5 matches, scoring 17 targets and conceding solely 4. The stress was on Flick to translate Barcelona’s early success to the Champions League, a contest the membership struggled to seek out success in over the previous few years. Barcelona’s first European check got here in opposition to Monaco away from house.
The Spanish aspect dominated possession from kickoff, utilizing fast passes to dissect and probe Monaco’s disciplined backline. Barcelona was caught out, although, when Marc-André ter Stegen performed a poor move out the again to Eric García. Takumi Minamino pickpocketed the midfielder on the fringe of the field, prompting García to make a last-ditch, clumsy sort out that resulted in a straight crimson card.
All the way down to 10 males, the guests conceded simply six minutes later. Barcelona virtually watched Maghnes Akliouche dribble into the field, change to his left foot and blast a shot previous a stationary ter Stegen. It was none apart from Lamine Yamal, although, who pulled Barcelona again into the sport with an equalizer within the twenty eighth minute.
The second half unfolded with out a lot drama from both aspect till the 72nd minute. Barcelona was caught out on a ball excessive, enjoying George Ilenikhena by way of on objective whereas Iñigo Martínez trailed behind. The substitute put his aspect up 2–1 and in the end sealed the sport for the hosts.
Monaco although it will get an opportunity from the spot to double its lead, however a VAR evaluation decided Martínez didn’t foul Folarin Balogun within the field.
Barcelona couldn’t discover a last-minute equalizer and headed again to Spain with zero factors.
Starters
GK: Marc-André ter Stegen – 5/10 – The goalkeeper’s poor move from his personal field led to García’s crimson card, leaving his aspect with ten males for 80 minutes. He was beat close to submit on Monaco’s opening objective and had a number of shaky clearances within the second half.
RB: Jules Koundé – 6/10 – Koundé stored Ben Seghir quiet, limiting the 19-year-old’s probabilities within the last third. The fitting-back was among the many leaders on the counter-attack for Barcelona.
CB: Pau Cubarsí – 6/10 – The 17-year-old did what he might to maintain Barcelona within the sport. He made a number of key clearances to stop what can be Monaco’s inevitable profitable objective.
CB: Iñigo Martínez – 5/10 – Martínez was fully caught out within the 72nd minute, leaving George Ilenikhena by way of on objective to seal the match for Monaco. He was additionally fortunate to solely obtain a yellow card for pushing Wilfried Singo simply three minutes later.
LB: Alejandro Balde – 5/10 – Balde did properly to hyperlink up with Raphinha within the second half, however he shall be remembered for his failure to shut down Akliouche on Monaco’s opening objective.
DM: Eric García – N/A – The midfielder was despatched off inside ten minutes after denying Takumi Minamino a transparent goalscoring alternative.
DM: Marc Casadó – 7/10 – Casadó put collectively a disciplined, sensible efficiency in opposition to Monaco. The midfielder dedicated a number of tactical fouls to disrupt the hosts’ efforts on the assault and valiantly helped his backline survive with ten males.
RW: Lamine Yamal – 7/10 – After a couple of uncharacteristic mistouches within the early phases of the match, {the teenager} grew into the sport and scored his first ever Champions League objective to get his aspect on the scoresheet.
AM: Pedri – 5/10 – Pedri misplaced essentially the most duels within the match and bought out-classed by Akliouche on Monaco’s first objective.
LW: Raphinha – 6/10 – The Brazilian had a number of flashes on the counter-attack, however by no means discovered the standard within the last third to facilitate or rating for Barcelona.
ST: Robert Lewandowski – 5/10 – The striker couldn’t do a lot on the assault as soon as his aspect went down to 10 males, however he lead the press in opposition to Monaco.
Substitutes
Ferran Torres – 5/10 – The attacker solely managed two touches in his quick time on the pitch.
Gerard Martín – 5/10 – Martín had little alternative to make an influence as soon as Barcelona was already down 2–1.
Sergi Domínguez – 5/10 – The defender got here on to shore-up Barcelona’s protection.
Pablo Torre – N/A
Ansu Fati – N/A
Supervisor
Hansi Flick – 6/10 – It will be unfair to evaluate Flick too harshly after his aspect fought valiantly for over 85 minutes with ten males. Nonetheless, the supervisor did make the choice to start out García rather than the injured Olmo and the midfielder’s crimson card all-but handed Monaco the victory tonight. Maybe if Flick opted for Torres as a substitute, the result tonight would have been completely different.