Monaco snatched a point from Real Sociedad (1-1) on Thursday on Matchday 2 of the Europa League, but lost first place in Group B to PSV Eindhoven, who won 4-1 in Graz.

Solid from the start, the Monegasques opened the score thanks to a goal from their captain Axel Disasi in the 16th minute, but then completely died out and conceded the equalizer goal by Mikel Merino (53rd).

But this result confirms the good Monegasque dispositions in September, authors of three victories (against Sturm, Saint-Etienne and in Clermont-Ferrand), a draw and a defeat (in Marseille).

Real Sociedad, current 2nd in the Spanish league behind Real Madrid, played their first European match on Thursday in front of their home crowd (23,765 supporters) since the start of the pandemic, after being hung 2-2 on the pitch of PSV Eindhoven at the opening of C3, two weeks ago.

The Monegasques, with Wissam Ben Yedder kept on the bench, managed to take the advantage early in the match.

– Solid Nübel –

From the 16th minute, Monegasque captain Axel Disasi won in the air in front of two defenders, and headed a corner kicked by Sofiane Diop to slip the ball between the post and the hands of Alex Remiro.

But after this initial but which launched Niko Kovac’s men perfectly, the Monegasques completely disappeared, collapsing under the Basque assaults. Over the minutes, the Basques are more and more threatening and Monaco has ended up retreating into its camp.

Returning from the locker room (53rd), the acrobatic recovery of Portu, hyperactive on the front of the Basque attack, for example almost surprised Alexander Nübel, vigilant.

But the German goalkeeper was too short on the recovery of Mikel Merino’s uncrossed header, which allowed Real Sociedad to pick up the score.

However, he saved his family from the debacle with several decisive saves at the end of the match, including this stop of the torso after a powerful strike from Portu in the 64th.

“Alex (Nübel) did a very good job. The instructions were to play long, because Real Sociedad put a lot of pressure on us in short play. He made big saves, he’s growing, he’s improving. We have to allow time. for new players to adapt to this new country, to the language, to this new style of football too. So things will get better and better, “Niko Kovac reacted at a post-match press conference.

The end of the meeting was marked by a general warm-up and the distribution of several yellow cards, after a nasty Kevin Volland on Martin Zubimendi (90th + 1).