Ligue 1: AS Monaco brush aside Montpellier to secure second

AS Monaco’s accomplished victory over Montpellier under the eyes of President Dmitry Rybolovlev, who celebrated the triumph with the team afterwards, not only guaranteed their direct passage into the Champions League group stages, but also ensured second spot on the table is theirs.

@ASM

The Match

Picking an exciting side for this encounter that featured a nice blend of youth and experience, Adi Hutter’s team were up for the challenge from the off.

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Starting the match in dominant fashion by controlling possession and unleashing some early sighters efforts via Youssouf Fofana, all the initial signs were promising for Les Monegasques.

While Montpellier got going at the midway point of the first half, ASM quickly turned things back in their favour, with Eliesse Ben Seghir, Kassoum Ouattara and Wissam Ben Yedder firing off attempts before Breel Embolo had a goal chalked off for offside.

Sadly, Embolo was forced off just prior to the interval, as Folarin Balogun came on, as the USMNT almost immediately marked his introduction with a goal.

With the scores level at the interval, it wasn’t long until the visitors broke the deadlock through Ouattara, through, whose goal was his first for ASM.

The home side then rallied in their quest to get back into the game, but Radoslaw Majecki came up trumps to deny Tanguy Coulibaly.

Wanting to seal all three points, Fofana’s 65th minute strike duly did so to give Hutter’s men a two-goal cushion.

The closing section of the clash saw both teams trade shots and produce a host of promising offensive moves, but it was ultimately Monaco who ran out with a 0-2 win to clinch Champions League group stage football for the first time since the 2018/19 season.

Hutter’s Debrief

“I firstly want to congratulate my team for the result and this victory tonight. I am really proud to be the coach of this wonderful club and I want to thank the president, Dmitry Rybolovlev, and Thiago Scuro, our general director, for our performances as well as all the employees of the club. I would like to make a special mention to all our fans who will follow us next season in the Champions League,” explained the Austrian tactician.

“I’m not that type of person who talks about myself, I prefer to let others do it. I’m really happy to be a coach who will play in the Champions League next season. I was able to play a few matches with Young Boys Bern and with RB Salzburg, but I always stopped in the last play-off round. So it’s a big success as a coach that I think I deserve and I can’t wait to be able to fight against the best European teams.”

Key Stats

By the numbers, the fact ASM held the ascendancy in terms of expected goals (1.87 to 0.81), total shots (19 to 14), shots on target (9 to 3), shots inside the box (11 to 6), passes in the opposition half (208 to 153) and overall duels won (59 to 48) illustrated they were good value for their victory.

Up Next

AS Monaco will now switch their attention to their final Ligue 1 game of the campaign against Nantes at the Stade Louis II, which will represent an ideal opportunity to celebrate their brilliant season in front of their home fans in style.