Monaco cracks in Eindhoven and says goodbye to the Champions League

The years go by and look alike for Monaco: like last year, ASM was eliminated from the Champions League in extra time during summer qualifying after their 3-2 defeat on the lawn of PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday August 9. The Azureans had however reversed the situation after the opener of the score of Joey Veerman (21^e) thanks to Guillermo Maripan (58^e) and Wissam Ben Yedder (70^e), but Erick Gutierrez snatched the extension (89^e). And during this one, Captain Luuk De Jong (109^e) offered the Dutch club its ticket to the play-offs where it will face Glasgow Rangers, who defeated Union Saint-Gilloise (3-0).

The blow is hard for the players of Philippe Clement, who had already lost second place in Ligue 1, directly qualifying for the group stage of the Champions League, in additional time during the last match of the season in Lens at the end of May (2-2).

Like last season, Monaco, eliminated after extra time by Shakthar Donetsk in the play-offs, will have to settle for the Europa League. France will therefore only have two representatives in the Champions League, Paris-Saint-Germain, defending champion, and Marseille, its runner-up.

Read also: Champions League: Monaco concedes a draw against PSV Eindhoven

Monaco got off to a good start by pressing the Dutch and secured the first two positions through Aleksandr Golovin (5^e8^e), but the opposing response was quick with Cody Gakpo (11^e). While ASM had control, it was PSV who opened the scoring: on the right, Philipp Mwene delivered a center back which was taken over by Joey Veerman, already a scorer in the first leg (1-0, 23^e). The players of the Rock then continued their domination, but struggled to be dangerous, like Kevin Volland (34^e), or lacked efficiency, such as Wissam Ben Yedder who lost his duel with Walter Benitez (45^e).

Monaco qualified in the 88th minute

But the Monegasques were also scared on the counterattack, as on this strike from Ismael Saibari (28^e) or this shot from Veerman diverted by Axel Disasi and which almost deceived Alexander Nübel (42^e). Upon returning from the locker room, the changes made by Clement with the entries of Breel Embolo (46^e), Krepin Diatta (53^e) and Caio Henrique (53^e) will quickly bear fruit.

After sending a header to the post (54^e), Maripan equalized following a corner from Caio Henrique (1-1, 58^e). Then a few seconds after replacing Takumi Minamino, Gelson Martins delivered an assist for Ben Yedder, who gave ASM the advantage with an unstoppable volley (1-2, 69^e).

Monaco seemed to be heading towards qualification, but the end of the match was nightmarish: just after a contentious tackle from Armando Obispo on Embolo which sped towards the goal (88^e), Gutierrez, on the verge of offside, equalized with a header (2-2, 89^e).

Then, during extra time, the Monegasques again lacked success with a header from Embolo which crashed into the bar (92^e) and a volley from Diatta blocked in extremis by Gutierrez (104^e). And in one of the rare Dutch situations, De Jong blew up the Philips Stadion by scoring the qualifying goal with a header (3-2, 109^e).

The World with AFP