Barcelona fell to a first competitive defeat under manager Hansi Flick when they were beaten by French side Monaco in the Champions League after Eric Garcia was sent off.
Barca’s unbeaten start to the season was immediately threatened when their central midfielder was shown a red card for a professional foul, although Lamine Yamal equalized after Maghnes Akliouche’s goal.
However, a depleted Blaugrana could not hold on as George Ilenikhena consigned them to defeat with a second-half goal in the new league stage of Europe’s elite club competition.
How the game developed
BarçaThe start of the new campaign has been, somewhat surprisingly, overwhelmingly positive. After the chaotic sacking of Xavi Hernández, five wins in five La Liga games have seen Flick’s new side rise to the top of Spain’s first division.
They have not reached the semi-finals of the Champions League from 2019, however, and their start to the new league phase of the competition was awful as Monaco built up a player and goal lead in quick succession.
In just the tenth minute, Garcia was caught on the edge of his own area – not helped by a poor pass from Marc-Andre ter Stegen – by Takumi Minamino and clumsily brought down the former Liverpool striker. Referee Allard Lindhout dismissed the 23-year-old, handing a setback to the all-powerful Barça.
Not long after, unbeaten Monaco took the lead. The beaten Blaugrana didn’t know whether to shut down Akliouche or let him run and the young attacker made the Catalan giants pay, cutting down the right and hitting Ter Stegen with his left at the near post.
After scoring 17 goals in five The League games without much adversity to deal with, Barça and Flick were suddenly facing the biggest challenge of the German’s short reign. Fortunately for the visitors, a young but already familiar talisman stepped up to drag them back into the contest.
It was barely half a chance for Yamal, who got in behind Monaco’s defense and swerved inside the box, putting his shot past Philipp Kohn in similar fashion to Akliouche’s finish.
With that finish, the Euro 2024 winner became the second-youngest goalscorer in Champions League history at 17 years and 68 days, behind only current team-mate Ansu Fati at 17 and 40 years.
After looking rattled immediately after Garcia’s red card and going behind, Barca quickly took a new foothold in the game and a defensive mix-up almost saw Alejandre Balde put the Blaugrana ahead, but the left-back dragged his effort.
The break came and went with Monaco frustrated to be on level terms despite dominating the opening 45 minutes, having been punched by Barca’s only shot on target.
Raphinha almost went in after being played in by a long ball over the top, but Kohn raced out of his penalty area and latched onto a sliding tackle to prevent the Brazilian from having an empty net to touch.
While the visitors managed to largely restrict Monaco’s goal-scoring efforts to speculative shots from distance which Ter Stegen handled with great comfort, the numbers game ended in Barca’s favour. The goal also came in maddeningly simple fashion for Monaco.
Pau Cubarsi missed a header and Íñigo Martínez played in George Ilenikhena from a long point forward, allowing the teenage substitute to run in and finish hard, his shot deflecting off Ter Stegen and in.
Folarin Balogun appeared to have won a penalty to end Monaco’s points late on, but a video assistant referee check showed the USMNT initiating contact and the decision was overturned.
Although Flick made late changes to force the issue, no further equalizer came as Barca slumped to defeat in their first league fixture of the season.
GK: Marc-Andre ter Stegen – 4/10 – Made a series of comfortable saves that kept Barca in shape, but put Garcia in trouble and he was disappointingly beaten for the winning goal.
RB: Jules Kounde – 5/10 – He had little attacking to do after the red card and Eliesse Ben Seghir gave him some awkward moments.
CB: Pau Cubarsi – 6/10 – He showed composure in the spells and was not fazed by the great challenge that Barça faced early on, but his inexperience did show for Monaco’s second goal.
CB: Inigo Martinez – 4/10 – A bit too slow and clumsy against some Monaco attackers.
LB: Alejandre Balde – 5/10 – Like Kounde on the opposite flank, Balde was consigned to a purely defensive brief and did not do enough to shut down Akliouche.
CM: Eric Garcia – 2/10 – He didn’t have enough time to settle into the game before giving his side an almighty mountain to climb with a poor touch and subsequent red card.
CM: Marc Casado – 7/10 – Picked up the assist on Yamal’s goal – although it was more about the teenager’s magic – and had to break up the game with tackles and even spot-kicks.
RW: Lamine Yamal – 8/10 – The young man’s reputation continues to grow even if Barça lose. He stepped up when his team looked clueless with their goal, although it wasn’t enough to salvage anything from the game.
AM: Peter – 6/10 – His most offensive shortstop quickly turned into a holding role after Garcia was fired. He was outnumbered a few times in midfield, but his work rate was undeniably high.
LW: Raphinha – 6/10 – Maybe he would have had an empty net to take advantage of another day and would have shown a good company, even with Barça down.
ST: Robert Lewandowski – 5/10 – Didn’t get a shot on target all game, although his ineffectiveness was largely the result of Garcia’s red card.
Substitutes
SUB: Ferran Torres (79′ for Cubarsi) – 5/10
SUB: Sergi Domínguez (79′ for Lewandowski) – 5/10
SUB: Gerard Martin (80′ for Yamal) – 5/10
SUB: Pablo Torre (83′ for Torres) – 5/10
SUB: Ansu Fati (88′ by Balde) – N/A
Subs not used: Guillem Fernandez, Ander Astralaga (GK), Inaki Pena (GK), Andreas Cuenca, Hector Fort, Antonio Fernandez, Pau Victor.
manager
Hansi Flick – 6/10 – His game plan was pretty much shattered by Garcia’s dismissal, but Flick would have been buoyed by his team’s spirit, even if they eventually fell to defeat late on.
