We thought Philippe Clement's men were back on track after their victory in Marseille (1-0) last Saturday.

It is not so.

They were beaten by the intensity, the desire and the offensive efficiency as a defensive of Sporting Braga.

Abel Ruiz opened the ball from the 3rd minute.

The young pearl Vitor "Vitinha" Oliveira, who came into play a few minutes earlier, closed it beautifully with a header (2-0).

Next Thursday, at Louis-II, Monaco will therefore have to do something to pass.

And in view of what the Principality team showed on the lawn of the 4th in the Portuguese championship, it seems a long way off.

The joy of the Spanish striker from Braga Abel Ruiz, after opening the scoring at home against Monaco, in the round of 16 first leg of the Europa League, on March 10, 2022 at the Municipal Stadium MIGUEL RIOPA AFP

From the start, Braga rushed to attack.

And it worked.

After conceding a first corner, Axel Disasi left Abel Ruiz unleashed a dangerous header.

Then, in continuity, he again let the Portuguese center-forward recover a shot blocked by Rodrigo Gomes.

Ruiz was then happy to quietly beat Alexander Nübel to afford his first of the season in the Europa League (1-0, 3rd).

The Portuguese, voracious, continually pursued their enterprise in an attempt to break their adversaries.

The corners followed one another at high speed.

And it took a superb save from Nübel on a strike from Iuri Medeiros for Monaco not to dive (7th).

Monegasque goals disallowed

In difficulty, Clement's men could also have joined the locker room at the break with more than a goal behind.

First, Nübel missed on a distant attempt by the excellent Ricardo Horta.

Fortunately for the German the ball bounced off his right post before coming to rest in front of the empty goal (31').

The next minute, he was much more reassuring in front of Al Musrati (32nd), as in front of Rodrigo Gomes again him (44th), faster than Chrislain Matsima, replaced at the break by Benoît Badiashile.

We had to bring some defensive solidity.

Because despite his ordeal and during an intense first half, Monaco, paradoxically, knew how to be very dangerous.

But Wissam Ben Yedder lost his duel against Brazilian goalkeeper Mattheus (26th).

Then Gelson Martins (29th) and him (33rd) scored two fine goals, disallowed for very limited offsides.

After the break, the Monegasques were finally dominating.

But Mattheus was effective in front of Martins (49th) on the only Monegasque occasion.

His counterpart Nübel, he did not make an exploit at the last minute in front of Vitinha (2-0, 89th).

And, before moving to Strasbourg in L1, his team fell once again.

© 2022 AFP