Tiemoue
Bakayoko’s superb header fired Monaco into the Champions League quarter-finals
as Wednesday’s 3-1 victory condemned Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City to a
painful exit on away goals.
Trailing
5-3 from the first leg in England, teenage starlet Kylian Mbappe put Monaco
ahead on the night after just eight minutes at the Stade Louis II and Brazilian
midfielder Fabinho converted the home side’s second just before the half hour.
Leroy
Sane’s 71st-minute goal handed City a 6-5 advantage on aggregate, but Bakayoko
turned home Thomas Lemar’s free-kick 13 minutes from time as Monaco claimed a
famous win.
Monaco
go through to Friday’s draw for the last eight in Nyon carrying French hopes
following Paris Saint-Germain’s shock elimination, while Guardiola suffered his
earliest Champions League exit as a manager.
“It’s an immense joy to score in the
Champions League. I didn’t expect this,” said Bakayoko.
“Over two games we deserved to qualify.
Now we want to keep going.”
The French league leaders suffered a
blow before kick-off as Radamel Falcao, who scored twice in the first leg,
failed to recover from a hip injury in time and was replaced by the versatile
Valere Germain.
Jemerson returned in place of the
suspended Kamil Glik in defence, while Guardiola, who took charge of his 100th
game in Europe, made two changes with Gael Clichy and Aleksandar Kolarov given
the nod ahead of Nicolas Otamendi and Yaya Toure.
Coach Leonardo Jardim had challenged
Monaco to draw inspiration from the side which dumped out Real Madrid en route
to the 2004 final, recovering from a 4-2 defeat in the first leg of that year’s
quarter-finals before knocking the Spanish giants out on away goals.
And the hosts were inspired by
18-year-old Mbappe, who has emerged as one of Europe’s most promising talents
amid Monaco’s thrilling pursuit of the French title this season.
– Fast start dazzles City –
Willy Caballero stood tall to repel
Mbappe’s crisp early strike as he knifed through the City defence, but the
Argentine goalkeeper was helpless as the teenager poked home Bernardo Silva’s
driven low cross just a minute later.
City recovered from twice falling
behind in the first leg, but the opening goal emboldened Monaco as Germain
unleashed a searing strike from distance that zipped not too far over.
Guardiola had emphasised the best form
of defence would be attack for City, yet the visitors struggled to settle and
Monaco grabbed their second goal in not dissimilar fashion on 29 minutes.
Lemar fed the ball into the overlapping
run of Benjamin Mendy, a reported target of City’s this summer, and the
left-back picked out Fabinho to side-foot beyond Caballero.
Mbappe’s electrifying pace posed a
constant threat for City, but the Premier League side gradually began to pose
Monaco problems as well although Raheem Sterling’s hesitancy allowed the hosts
to clear as the England winger looked to tee up Sergio Aguero.
The Argentine striker then skied over
from close range after Sane skipped past Andrea Raggi down the the left-hand
flank, before Danijel Subasic thrust himself superbly in the way after Aguero
was picked out by David Silva inside the area.
Sane broke in behind the Monaco
backline once more but steered his effort the wrong side of the near post with
Subasic charging off his line, but City finally broke through with 19 minutes
left.
Sterling broke in from the right and
his low shot was palmed away by Subasic, but Sane reacted quickest to thump the
rebound into the roof of the net and change the complexion of the tie.
However that merely drew an immediate
response from Monaco as Lemar whipped in a devilish free-kick that Bakayoko
expertly planted into the far corner to consign Guardiola to a first-ever last
16 European exit.
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