Europa League – Monaco vs Braga: Sporting de Braga headed into the Stade Louis II with a two goal advantage in hand carried from the home leg. The club knew holding on to a draw should do the trick for the team and that is exactly what they managed.
Braga’s Abel Ruiz opened the scoring through a long range screamer from outside the box in the 19th minute. The remainder of the match also saw both teams bombard the opponent’s goalkeeper with long shots. However, none of those attempts succeeded.
The hosts got on the score sheet late in the game when Disasi rose above everyone to plant the ball in the goal from a header. Thus the contest concluded 1-1 on the night. Braga proceeded through with a score line of 1-3.
Europa League – Monaco vs Braga: Match report
Monaco (4-4-2): Alexander Nubel; Vanderson, Axel Disasi, Benoit Badiashile, Caio Henrique; Gelson Martins, Jean Lucas, Aurelien Tchouameni, Sofiane Diop; Wissam Ben Yedder, Kevin Volland.
Subs: Guillermo Maripán, Myron Boadu, Ismail Jakobs, Aleksandr Golovin, Ruben Aguilar.
Goal: Axel Disasi 90’.
Sporting Braga (3-4-3): Matheus Lima; Vítor Tormena, David Carmo, Yan Couto; Martins Gomes, Andre Castro, Ali Al-musrati, Leonardo Buta; Iuri Medeiros, Vítor Oliveira, Ricardo Horta.
Subs: Vítor Manuel Carvalho Oliveira, Lucas Mineiro, Iuri Medeiros, Francisco Moura.
Goal: Abel Ruiz 19’.
Managers’ reaction
Monaco’s Philippe Clement: “I am very disappointed like everyone else, the staff, the players, the managers, the supporters… There are two solutions: you can lower your head, or raise it and bounce back! There are ten league finals left until the end of the season.
“The motivation was there tonight, but the hope somewhat faded with Braga’s opener in the first half. There were chances to do better than a draw, that’s for sure. When you want to reverse a situation with a two-goal deficit, you have to score very quickly. We didn’t manage to do that in the first half, and after their goal the pace dropped a bit. When we got back from the locker room, we had a few opportunities, but they were often grouped in the middle. After Axel’s goal there was new energy, but it was too late. We will have to analyze all of this, in order to be able to move forward.”
Sporting de Braga’s Carlos Carvalhal: “I appreciate the attitude of the players, the way they surrendered, they fully fulfilled the plan we asked them to do. The idea was to start from scratch and try to win the game, without defending the result. We had the game controlled in defensive terms and in offensive terms I remember three or four good opportunities, in which we could have extended the result, but it would be a little unfair considering the opponent’s inclination. But we controlled the game and were the best team in both games.”
“Being in the top eight teams in the Europa League is fantastic. The behavior has been spectacular. Satisfied that we are experiencing a spectacular moment, in a year of clear commitment to many players in the formation. front. Whatever it is, we’ll try to win.”
