AS Monaco’s six match unbeaten streak came to an end against Olympique Lyon, who defeated Niko Kovac’s men 2-0 at the Groupama Stadium.
The Match
Missing many key men for this colossal clash with one of Ligue’s 1 best sides, including Aurelien Tchouameni, Sofiane Diop, Djibril Sidibe, Krepin Diatta, Aleksandr Golovin and Cesc Fabregas, this certainly wasn’t ideal for the away side.
Unable to contain Peter Bosz’s accomplished side, who were by far the better team in terms of controlling the ball and chance creation, Monaco will want to quickly forget this one. “This season, Ligue 1 is very competitive, it is very tight at the top of the table,” explained Kovac.
“We lost tonight but life goes on, we have to move forward. In the last six games we have had a series of positive results. We will get up and continue our progress.”
Numbers tell the story
Struggling to find their groove and stamp their mark on proceedings, the numbers back up what a tough night at the office it was for Les Monegasques, for Lyon outperformed them in shots (14 to 9), Expected Goals (2.70 to 0.61), possession (62% to 38%) and chances created (12 to 7).
Nubel stars
Despite not enjoying the best start to his life with Monaco, it was positive to see Alexander Nubel put in a superb shift in goal. Making a plethora of quality stops and looking right on top of his game, the German netminder definitely put in his best performance in a Monaco shirt.
Chiming in with six saves to keep his team in the game, Kovac was rightfully delighted with his efforts. “He is getting better and better, he made some superb saves, especially in the first half. He is in good shape, he has more and more confidence in himself, which is important for a goalkeeper and for the rest of the team. When a goalie is able to pull off tough shots, that’s good.”
Next up
After this disappointing result, the club crucially get the chance to immediately get things back on track when they face off with PSV Eindhoven in the Europa League. In a clash that pits the top two teams in the table against each other, this is the perfect opportunity for Monaco to put themselves in an ideal position to progress beyond the group stage.