Ligue 1: Frustrated AS Monaco fall to late winner from Lyon

Looking to continue their excellent home form this season, that had seen them win six of seven at the Stade Louis II heading into this crucial clash against Olympique Lyonnais, AS Monaco were unable to do so, as they frustratingly lost courtesy of a late winner from Jeffinho despite dominating large chunks of the contest.

The Match

Selecting his preferred back three system again for this important fixture, Adi Hutter was forced to make a couple of changes because of Vanderson and Aleksandr Golovin’s suspensions, as he brought in Krepin Diatta and Maghnes Akliouche.

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Starting on the back foot, Lyon immediately put ASM under pressure by conjuring some decent openings, with their threat in transition especially creating major problems (as it would throughout).

Les Monegasques then kicked into gear around the 10 minute mark, enjoying a flurry of chances from Folarin Balogun, Diatta and Wilfried Singo.

Controlling possession nicely and with the likes of Takumi Minamino, Akliouche, Youssouf Fofana and Balogun causing plenty of issues for Les Gones’ backline, all the signs were positive that Monaco could hit the front before the break. But it wasn’t to be even though Balogun and Akliouche came close.

Kicking off the second stanza with gusto, further upside could be extracted from their brilliant beginning to the remaining 45, as Minamino and Mohamed Camara, whose thunderous shot hit the post, came close.

Monaco kept pushing hard in their quest to take the lead, but Fofana and Balogun were unable to convert their chances against the outstanding Anthony Lopes in goal for Lyon.

Disaster then struck for ASM, for Jeffinho put Lyon ahead through his smart late finish. With hardly any time on the clock to mount a comeback, the home team were ultimately left to rue their missed chances in a result that marked their fourth loss of the campaign.

Hutter’s Debrief

“It was a difficult match tonight, that’s part of football. The team didn’t deserve to lose. But sometimes we dominate and we don’t achieve results, and that was the case today. However, we had many chances to score, but unfortunately we did not succeed. I think Lyon only had one chance in the second half and they scored this goal. Obviously we are all very disappointed with this result,” Hutter insisted.

“Congratulations to OL, who took their goal very well. We may not have defended well on the goal, but the problem tonight was more our lack of efficiency. I told my team that we missed too many opportunities, and that it didn’t make sense to lose this game. Lyon defended very low on the pitch, and despite this we attempted almost 20 shots on goal, without ever finding the net.

“We are disappointed, but a defeat is a defeat. I don’t think we played a bad match, even if the first half was too slow. For me, we were in control for over 75 minutes in this match, but unfortunately it was not enough.”

Key Stats

By the numbers, the fact ASM held the ascendancy in terms of expected goals (1.36 to 0.77), total shots (19 to 5), shots inside the box (11 to 2), passes in the opposition half (309 to 117) and overall duels won (63 to 54) indicated that they still produced a strong showing in spite of the outcome.

Up Next

Monaco now travels to Toulouse for a challenging away day to close their 2023, where they’ll be desperate to end the year on a high following this disappointing setback.