Spanish giant Barcelona suffered a shocking defeat away at AS Monaco in the group opener of their 2024/2025 Champions League campaign.
The visitors were down to 10-men in the early minutes of the game when Eric Garcia was shown a red card for a reckless tackle in just 10 minutes of play.
Barcelona goalie Ter Stegen played the simplest of passes away to Embolo, and Barcelona had to force a foul at the edge of the box to stop conceding. However, Eric Garcia, who made the tackle, was sent off.
The home side capitalised on the advantage as AS Monaco took the lead as Akliouche dribbled from the right wing to cut in at the edge of the box and finished it in the near post in the 16th minute of play.
However, the joy of fans and the home team at the Stade II was short lived when Lamine Yamal cut in from the right, beat his marker, and took a curling short, which beat the keeper to bury it in the bottom right corner for the visitors.
Though the match ended at parity at the end of the first half, AS Monaco’s Ilenikhena put the home side in front when he got a long ball at his feet, beat Barca’s backline, used his pace to dribble into the box, and made a powerful finish into the net.
The home team were also denied a penalty by VAR when Balogun was brought down in the 18-yard box in the 85th minute.
Bolagun was through on goal but was brought down by Martinez inside the box. Though the referee had initially awarded the penalty, the VAR check ruled in favour of the visitors.
The Hansi Flick side, who are currently top of the LaLiga table, will fight for a win away at Villareal CF on Sunday to maintain the top spot in the LaLiga.
