MONACO: Monaco ground out a 1-0 home win against Aston Villa in the Champions League on Tuesday, denying the Premier League side the chance to all but book their spot in the round of 16.
Wilfried Singo’s early header was the difference between the teams as Villa tasted defeat for the first time in six outings in all competitions.
Monaco had only won two of their last 11 matches, including back-to-back defeats in the Champions League, but now have their eyes on securing progress to the knock-outs.
The defeat dropped Villa from fifth to seventh provisionally. They can qualify automatically for the last-16 with a top-eight finish.
“We started the Champions League not being favorites to finish in the top eight, and we still aren’t. Tonight we are disappointed,” said Villa manager Unai Emery.
Emery’s side host 21st-placed Celtic in their final league phase match next week.
Villa and Monaco are among nine teams on 13 points, ahead of the rest of this week’s matches, a pack headed by Arsenal in fourth place in the table with Monaco in ninth
Monaco conclude their league phase campaign with a visit to Italian champions Inter Milan — also on 13 points ahead of a visit to Prague on Wednesday — knowing nothing but a win will do to avoid a play-off spot.
“We have one match remaining which will be very difficult. We are going to go to Milan next week with a lot of ambition and to win,” said Singo.
Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez’s every touch was booed by the home support in the early stages — the crowd had not forgotten his role in Argentina’s 2022 World Cup final victory over France.
To the delight of their fans, Monaco’s opener came after the Argentinian parried Thilo Kehrer’s header from a corner up into the air. Singo pounced to nod home from close range on eight minutes.
Martinez showed his class with a sprawling dive to claw away Maghnes Akliouche’s whipped effort shortly afterwards.
Villa came within inches of levelling in first-half added time following excellent build-up play by Emiliano Buendia, but Radoslaw Majecki got down quickly to deny Ollie Watkins.
At the start of the second period, Morgan Rogers flashed a strike narrowly wide, before Akliouche had a strike disallowed for offside.
Emery turned to Jhon Duran from the bench to give his side a spark, sending on the Colombian 11 minutes after the interval in place of winger Bailey.
With Watkins and Duran on the pitch together, Villa boasted a striking duo with 22 goals between in all competitions this term.
Rogers and Matty Cash combined to create Villa’s next chance, the right-back dragging his effort across goal and wide on 69 minutes.
Monaco looked the more likely to score in the final 20 minutes.
Aleksandr Golovin rippled the side netting from a tight angle in the 88th minute.
Duran then attempted a bicycle-kick in the crowded box in the 92nd minute, but his ambitious effort flew well over the bar as Monaco held firm.
“It was an important win,” said Monaco coach Adi Huetter. “I give compliments and praise to my team for how they fought.”
Monaco down Villa to boost Champions League qualification hopes
https://arab.news/65um2
Monaco down Villa to boost Champions League qualification hopes
- Wilfried Singo’s early header was the difference between the teams as Villa tasted defeat for the first time in six outings in all competitions
- The defeat dropped Villa from fifth to seventh provisionally. They can qualify automatically for the last-16 with a top-eight finish
Liverpool’s Slot says football must do more after Vinicius racism allegation
- The Dutchman said Jeremie Frimpong is still out this weekend but fellow defender Joe Gomez is ready to start if needed
Liverpool manager Arne Slot says more needs to be done to avoid racism in football following allegations by Real Madrid’s Brazilian forward Vinicius Jr that he was subjected to racist abuse from Benfica’s Argentine winger Gianluca Prestianni.
Real’s 1-0 Champions League playoff first-leg win at Benfica on Tuesday was overshadowed by Vinicius accusing Prestianni of directing a racist slur at him, a charge denied by the Portuguese club, the player and their manager Jose Mourinho.
European soccer’s governing body UEFA said it was reviewing the incident, which led to the game being halted for 11 minutes under FIFA’s anti-racism protocol.
“In general you can never do enough, you can always do more to make sure this (racism in football) never happens again,” Slot told reporters ahead of Liverpool’s Premier League visit to relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
“We have to try as a football community to do more than society does. That’s maybe not so difficult, by the way. Protocol was followed in the game, that’s the first step,” he said on Thursday.
“I would hope my players would act in a similar way — immediately address it, and the referee acts in a similar way.”
Regarding the Forest game, Slot expects a different set-up under the Midlands club’s new manager Vitor Pereira compared to the meeting in November when Liverpool lost 3-0 at Anfield.
Former Wolverhampton Wanderers boss Pereira was appointed last Sunday to replace the sacked Sean Dyche.
“We only have tonight (Thursday) to see if this new manager changes personnel,” Slot said, referring to Forest’s first game under Pereira at Fenerbahce in a Europa League playoff tie.
“The good thing is they have that game, and the manager was in the Premier League last season.”
The Dutchman said Jeremie Frimpong is still out this weekend but fellow defender Joe Gomez is ready to start if needed.
Slot said his side have improved over the past few months, with Liverpool sixth in the table on 42 points from 26 games.
“We have improved compared to three, four months ago. We are in a much better place than months ago,” the 47-year-old added.
“There are more reasons, but the most simple two are how fit we are and that we’re much better at set-pieces at the moment.”
Forest are languishing in 17th spot, one place and three points above West Ham United in the relegation zone.
