AS Monaco beat Barcelona of their opening match of the Champions League marketing campaign, with targets from Maghnes Akliouche (16′) and substitute George Ilenikhena (71′), both facet of a strike by Lamine Yamal (28′), giving the Ligue 1 facet victory over the Catalan giants.

The duty the house facet confronted on this match was made notably simpler by Barcelona defender Eric Garcia incomes a straight pink card lower than 10 minutes in.

Monaco’s triumph was definitely deserved, however the common feeling is that Barcelona have been the group which influenced the end result extra.

The groups

Each groups have been organized in a 4-2-3-1 form. Monaco boss Adi Hutter had Philipp Kohn in purpose, with Thilo Kehrer and Mohammed Salisu forming the centre-back partnership, whereas Wilfried Singo and Vanderson coated the defensive flanks. Denis Zakaria and Lamine Camara paired up in the course of the park, whereas the trio of Akliouche, Takumi Minamino and Eliesse Ben Seghir supported striker Breel Embolo.

In the meantime, Hansi Flick within the away dugout named Marc-Andre ter Stegen between the posts. Inigo Martinez joined Pau Curbasi within the coronary heart of defence, with Alejandro Balde on the left and Jules Kounde on the appropriate. Garcia, although often a defender, performed in midfield, alongside facet Marc Casado. Within the absence of the injured Dani Olmo, Pedri operated a little bit additional up within the No. 10 function, with Yamal and Raphinha attacking from the flanks, and Robert Lewandowski taking part in as the point of interest in assault.

Ter Stegen’s errors in charge for Barcelona defeat

Ter Stegen is, in fact, a world-class goalkeeper who has rightly inherited the function of Germany’s No. 1 from Manuel Neuer after the Euros this yr. He now has 42 caps for his nation, and with 419 matches for Barcelona beneath his belt, together with 5 La Liga titles and a Champions League medal to his identify, the 32-year-old definitely boasts loads of top-level expertise. Nonetheless, all these achievements solely make the errors he made on this match extra obvious.

There was nothing Ter Stegen might’ve finished to forestall Akliouche’s opener within the sixteenth minute – it was a very unbelievable purpose from the Monaco winger. Nevertheless it was him who put Garcia in an enormous downside which preceded the pink card as Minamino’s press robbed the Barcelona midfielder of the ball, and making an attempt with all his may to forestall his group from conceding a purpose, Garcia introduced the previous Liverpool man down, denying a transparent goalscoring alternative.

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There may be no dialogue concerning the choice of referee Allard Lindhout from Netherlands to brandish the pink card, however why precisely Ter Stegen selected to move to him when he had different choices is difficult to grasp.

Taking part in for over 80 minutes a person down, the truth that Barcelona had no extra that 44% possession within the match isn’t to be puzzled at, and the identical goes for the Catalans taking a complete of 4 photographs whereas Monaco had 18. Nonetheless, it may be argued {that a} group aiming to win the title in one among Europe’s high 5 leagues and the Champions League merely can not permit themselves to be outplayed like that, even

Ter Stegen can’t be blamed instantly for the Monaco winner, on condition that his teammates allowed Ilenikhena to interrupt clear and take him on one-on-one, however the shot, although highly effective, was aimed nearly straight on the Barcelona ‘keeper, who didn’t divert it sufficiently to forestall it from getting in. That’s one other factor that shouldn’t be occurring to such a confirmed shot-stopper.

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After the match, Ter Stegen stated he and Garcia didn’t talk very effectively within the state of affairs which led to the pink card, however that assertion places a query mark over his skill to take accountability for his errors too.

One unhealthy recreation doesn’t imply the world coming to an finish, but when they’re going to remain within the race for the largest trophies this season, Barcelona will want their goalkeeper to place his errors behind him and carry out significantly better than he did in opposition to Monaco.