Ligue 1: AS Monaco crushes short-handed Nantes 7-1 at home
AS Monaco completely destroyed 10-man Nantes 7-1 at the Stade Louis II, as the early red card for the visitors ensured they endured a brutal night at the office.
The Match
Having only won two of their last seven Ligue 1 games heading into this one, Adi Hutter selected a powerful team that consisted of an extremely exciting frontline of Mika Biereth, Maghnes Akliouche, Takumi Minamino and Eliesse Ben Seghir.
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In what was a hugely hectic opening to proceedings, that saw Nantes race to a rapid lead through Matthis Abline before Nicolas Cozza was sent off for a poor challenge on Vanderson, the stage was then set for Monaco to mount a comeback in their quest for victory.
Despite Ben Seghir and Akliouche firing off decent efforts, it was somewhat concerning that Nantes were still posing a real threat. But ASM eventually took advantage of having an extra man by levelling the ledger just prior to the interval courtesy of Biereth.
Monaco immediately scorched ahead via Minamino’s masterful volley in first-half stoppage-time.
Les Rouge et Blanc crucially continued their momentum to begin the second stanza, as Ben Seghir and Biereth both found the back of the net again to propel ASM into a 4-1 lead.
The exceptional Biereth then completed his hat-trick by expertly converting his penalty, which was remarkably his second successive triple at home in league action.
Not content with that, George Ilenikhena made it six with an athletic diving header. Wanting to make the most of his opportunity, the gifted youngster kept pushing, and he was duly rewarded, scoring at the death to secure a brace and cap off a smashing win in style.
Hutter’s Debrief
“Winning 7-1 is of course a special result, it’s a very big score, so I’m obviously happy. The start of the game was difficult because, before the first goal, they hit the post. You can imagine how unhappy we all were. The red card helped us a lot, nobody knows better what impact and what difficulties it can have to play with a man down,” explained the 55-year-old.
“We managed to lead 2-1 at the break and I want to congratulate my team for the five goals scored in the second half. We always played forward, I am once again very happy with the result, but also with the attitude and reaction of my players. Over the last three games played at home, we have scored 14, which is a lot.”
Key Stats
By the numbers, the fact the ASM held the ascendancy in terms of expected goals (4.44 to 1.18), big chances created (9 to 2), total shots (22 to 6), shots on target (11 to 2) shots inside the box (17 to 6), possession (65% to 35) and touches inside the box (53 to 11) further demonstrated their dominance.
Moreover, as stated on the Monaco website, Biereth’s treble notably saw him become the first player to score seven goals in his first five appearances with AS Monaco in Ligue 1. He also became the second to achieve this feat in his first five league games in the 21st century after Zlatan Ibrahimovic in 2012.
Benfica Up Next
Following this confidence-boosting triumph, the focus swiftly shifts to the second leg of their Champions League play-off vs. Benfica, where Monaco will be aiming to overturn their one-goal deficit to progress at the Estadio da Luz in front of a whopping 60,000 supporters.
