
AS Monaco’s Coupe de France adventure came to a cruel end against Reims, as they exited the competition following a dramatic penalty shootout.
The Match
Rotating his squad for this crucial clash, Adi Hutter selected a team that featured a nice blend of youth and experience, with exciting attacker Lucas Michal notably handed his first professional start.
Kicking off the match full of energy and attacking verve, Les Monegasques twice came close to opening the scoring within the first five minutes through efforts from Breel Embolo and Eliesse Ben Seghir.
Reims’ Japanese star Junya Ito also failed to convert a very presentable chance in the early exchanges, as the match began with a bang.Monaco then thought they’d broken the deadlock, but Takumi Minamino’s strike was ruled out for offside.
Both teams had their moments of enjoying the upper hand as the half wore on before Reims took the lead near the stroke of half-time when Cedric Kipre powered home his header with authority.Knowing he needed to make some changes to alter the complexion of the fixture, Hutter brought on Mika Biereth and Jordan Teze for the second stanza.
Monaco quickly gained control and bossed proceedings impressively, with them now posing a far greater threat. They duly rewarded themselves for their uptick in performance, for Mohammed Salisu nodded home Biereth’s tidy delivery to level the ledger and find the back of the net for the second consecutive match.Wanting to push for a winner, it appeared as though Minamino had won a penalty for his team, but the referee turned down the appeal. With no VAR in operation in the cup, this meant there was no possibility to reverse the decision.
The closing stages saw more drama, for both Oumar Diakite and Embolo missed terrific opportunities to win it late, thus ensuring the contest was to be decided via penalties.
Having missed their first three spot-kicks, there would be no coming back from this for ASM, leaving Reims to comfortably progress to the Round of 16.
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