What is a victory? Sometimes next to nothing. A few centimeters away, a slightly advanced shoulder from an opposing striker and an offside at 92e minute of the match that avoids an equalizer. Then two decisive saves from his goalkeeper in the final moments of the game.
It was these three times for nothing that allowed AS Monaco to preserve their victory (2-1) at the Stade de la Meinau in Strasbourg, Saturday August 6, for their first match of the 2022-2023 season in the Ligue 1 of soccer.
If they trembled until the last moments of the match, the Monegasques were nevertheless dominating for a good part of the match, present offensively: they had moreover done most of the work, since they led 2-0 to the 53e minute.
It was the “returning” Krépin Diatta who opened the scoring (43e minute) of a superb volley. The Senegalese player made his return to competition on Saturday after almost eight months of absence following a knee injury (November 19, 2021) and an operation (of the anterior cruciate ligament), which had away from the land.
“For a few centimeters, it is unfavorable to us”
Sofiane Diop had driven the point home in the 53e minute, but Habib Diallo restarted the match by scoring in the 65e minute. The Strasbourg pressing almost paid: Habib Diallo scored a new goal in stoppage time with a header (92e minute).
But that’s where one shoulder made the difference: his, which was a few centimeters higher than the last Monegasque defender. Verdict: goal disallowed for offside, after using video (VAR) and two good minutes of analysis.
“We thought we had done the hardest part by equalizing but unfortunately, for a few centimeters, it is against us”reacted, after the match, Julien Stéphan, the coach of Strasbourg, while emphasizing that his team “had three big chances in the last two minutes, between the disallowed goal and the chances of Adrien Thomasson and Gerzino Nyamsi. It didn’t smile on us, it’s a shame”.
Because if Monaco finally left Meinau with the three points of the victory, it owes them for a good part to its goalkeeper: Alexander Nübel made, blow after blow, in the 95e minute and at the 96e minute, two decisive parries, on shots from close range from Adrien Thomasson and Gerzino Nyamsi.