Paul Rouget, Media365: published on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 at 2:29 p.m.
In 2017, Kylian Mbappé, then 18, and the Monegasques eliminated Manchester City in the knockout stages of the Champions League after a very spectacular double clash.
He was still called “the kid”. In February 2017, Kylian Mbappé was playing in Monaco, was only 18 years old, and was not yet world champion. And he had never scored in the Champions League before facing Manchester City in the round of 16 of the prestigious competition. A double confrontation that has become memorable for the Monegasques who did not start favorites against the team of Pep Guardiola, landed a few months earlier from Bayern Munich. After finishing in first place in their group, ahead of Bayer Leverkusen, Tottenham and CSKA Moscow, Leonardo Jardim’s players did not advance without certainty either.
At the Etihad Stadium, however, they were going to start the first leg badly, since Raheem Sterling opened the scoring in the 26th minute of play. But Falcao quickly equalized (32nd), before Mbappé managed to double the bet a few moments later ( 40th), to open his counter in the event with a new assist from Fabinho. ASM even had the opportunity to lead 3-1, but Falcao saw his penalty rejected by Willy Caballero as soon as the restart (48th). The turning point of the match, since Sergio Agüero, taking advantage of a hand fault by Danijel Subasic, put the two teams tied ten minutes later.
Lineker: “A crazy match”
With a sumptuous flick, Falcao redeemed himself well to restore the advantage to his family (2-3, 61st), but the visitors would then pay at the height of their wanderings on set pieces. Like the Colombian, Agüero also offered himself a double (71st), and John Stones also went there with his but on a corner (77th). Leroy Sané has a little more scope for the success of his family (5-3, 82nd), while Caballero in the process prevented Falcao from signing a triple. “A crazy match”, for Gary Lineker, a shrewd observer. The Monegasque vice-president still wanted him to be confident. “I’m sure it’s still possible. We have a great team, which scores so many goals,” commented Vadim Vasilyev..
Before the return match at Louis-II, a week after Barça’s incredible comeback against PSG (6-1), Jardim also remained positive, despite the absence of Kamil Glick: “We need to score to qualify and the individual qualities of the attackers of the two teams will mean that there will surely be goals. I don’t know if we will see another 8 goals, but the two teams will keep their DNA. transitions. ” And there are indeed a lot of spaces, but half the goals of the first leg. Mbappé lost a first duel against Caballero but cut perfectly on a cross from Bernardo Silva to open the scoring in the 8th minute and become the first player so young to score in the outward and return leg of a C1 playoff match!
A savior named Bakayoko
Fabinho, at the conclusion of a great collective action, would mark the second but of the evening shortly before the half hour of play (2-0, 29th), but Monaco retreated after the break. Already a scorer in the first leg, Sané would eventually find the opening twenty minutes from the final whistle (2-1, 71st), and thus virtually propel his team into the quarter-finals, passed in a 3-4-3 very offensive. But Tiémoué Bakayoko did not hear it that way and would qualify Monaco for their second quarter in three years, by taking a head kick from Thomas Lemar (3-1, 77th). The Monegasques would then eliminate Thomas Tuchel’s Borussia Dortmund, winning 3-2 in the first leg then 3-1 in the return, before going out, weapons in hand, against Juventus in the last four (0- 2, 1-2), after a new duel against the Turinese which will leave them with many regrets.
They will console themselves by winning the title of champion of France a few weeks later on the nose and beard of PSG. The team will then be dismembered, since Kylian Mbappé will join the Parisian club in the summer of 2017, while Bernardo Silva and Benjamin Mendy will engage them with … Manchester City, the latter even becoming the most expensive left side of the story with a transfer to more than 57 million euros. Bakayoko will sign him at Chelsea, while Lemar (Atlético) and Fabinho (Liverpool) will leave a year later. And since this fabulous 2016-2017 campaign, ASM has never managed to go beyond the group stage of the Champions League, or even to win a match …