In a comeback win against Montpellier, the Rouge et Blanc won at the end of added time thanks to a goal from Lamine Camara, perfectly celebrating their Centenary match.
Crazy! First behind against Montpellier in their Centenary match, the Rouge et Blanc equalized through Folarin Balogun before the final note was sung by Lamine Camara, scorer in the final seconds (2-1). A match, whose kick-off was given by HSH Prince Albert II and President Dmitry Rybolovlev, was accompanied by the oldest of the Legends present, Lucien Cossou, and the youngest at La Diagonale, Winsley Bolmin.
The context
AS Monaco was celebrating its Centenary on the occasion of a visit from Montpellier. For the party to be beautiful and complete, the Rouge et Blanc had to win against the a team currently in the play-off spot in the league. It was a match that was within their reach but that woukd have to be taken seriously, as has been the case since the beginning of the season, since they are still undefeated (four wins, one draw).
The eleven
At the start of this match, Adi Hütter lined up his team in a 4-4-2, where we noted changes to the XI compared to the win over Le Havre in the form of Mohammed Salisu, Vanderson, Denis Zakaria Maghnes Akliouche, Eliesse Ben Seghir and Breel Embolo. The Swiss striker would be accompanied by Folarin Balogun, while Aleksandr Golovin would be in midfield with his captain.
The scenario
In a very well-filled Stade Louis-II and adorned with two magnificent tifos to celebrate the Club’s Centenary, the Monegasques started well as Embolo’s shot went over the bar (7′). The Swiss striker then came up short against Bertaud from close range, as did Denis Zakaria (13′). Then, they were caught on the counter by Rabby Nzingoula (16′).
Balogun levels the score
Then it took a block from Mohammed Salisu on his line to prevent Montpellier from doubling the lead (17′). This big scare over, the Rouge et Blanc started again as Folarin Balogun’s attempt went over (19′). Shortly thereafter, Philipp Köhn had to be vigilant on a shot from Savanier (26′).
It was an important save since six minutes later, the American equalized with his left foot at the near post (32′). Ideally played in by his attacking partner, he therefore scored his second goal this season, and second in a row after doing the same against Le Havre last week.
Opportunities at both ends
The second half started again with a festival of dribbling from the Monaco captain, concluded by a cross back to Vanderson, who failed to finish (47′). A response would came two minutes later from Savanier, whose shot at the near post was caught by Köhn (49′), befroe Akor Adams shot wide (55′).
The Rouge et Blanc were keeping the ball and after a superb collective action, Caio Henrique played a cutback to Maghnes Akliouche but the latter slipped and failed to hit the target (63′). There was no luck either for Balo’, who saw his powerful shot crash against Bertaud’s post (65′).
The Rouge et Blanc struggle against the opposing defense…
Adi Hütter’s men pushed for a winner and would win several corners. On one of them, Mohammed Salisu’s header was cleared off the line by Khazri (75′). It was a story of set pieces in these last 45 minutes as Savanier tried to find the right angle on a free kick (85′). The match then came alive and Lamine Camara, who had come on shortly after at the hour mark, was denied by Bertaud (86′), before seeing his shot go over (89′).
…before Lamine saves the day in added time!
With a numerical advantage after a second yellow for Coulibaly (93′), the Rouge et Blanc wanted to break the deadlock but Ouattara also came up against Bertaud (97′). Additional time continued to tick by and there were only a handful of seconds left when Camara fired a shot from the edge of the area. It was well placed and found its way into the goal with the help of the post (98′)!
A Centenary celebrated in the best possible way
It was a totally crazy end to the match, AS Monaco snatched the lead in the last seconds! The referee whistled the end of the game shortly thereafter, and the club from the Principality won 2-1 in a totally stunning way, thus celebrating its Centenary in the best possible way. The team’s next match is in four days where they will travel to Zagreb to face Dinamo in the Champions League.