In tonight‘s Champions League game, two teams without a single defeat this season battled for their first three points and eventually, the captain of one team helped the other team to win. Ande ter Stegen, Barcelona‘s keeper made a big blunder in the 10th minute when he badly the ball in tricky situation, forcing his teammate Eric Garcia to receive the red card. That changed everything and was the crucial moment. In the end, the French team is still undefeated: Monaco – Barcelona 2-1. Monaco are almost experts at beating La Liga clubs in European competition. The Monegasque team has won 7 of its last nine home games. The only defeat in this streak was 1-2 against Atlético in the group stage of the 2018-2019 Champions League, but tonight they did have help from Ter Stegen. Even with 10 men and 1-0 down, the Catalans had managed to equalize through individual qualities of Lamine Yamal, and had two good chances to turn the game around, but Monaco is not a bad team at all. On the contrary.Error de Ter Stegen y roja directa para Eric García…Empieza bien la cosa para el Barça 😅 pic.twitter.com/jdN0pDCYiI— Iniestazo (@INIE8TAZO) September 19, 2024 The match didn‘t even properly start and Barcelona was already a man down. After a wrong pass from Ter Stegen, Erik Garcia rushed over to prevent Minamino from taking the ball and fouled him outside the penalty area. It wasn‘t a direct hit on the leg, Garcia wasn‘t the last man in defense and yet the referee gave him a red card and VAR never checked his decision. The reason for this was that Minamino was about to shoot at point-blank range and tackling him at that point is a read card by definition. Embolo had a wonderful chance in the 14th minute but Ter Stegen saved his goal. He was not so lucky three minutes later when Akliouche received the ball on the edge of the area, got past a couple of defenders and shot in at the near post for 1-0. But Barcelona, with no other option but to play on counter attack managed to equalize through a great individual effort by Yamal, who got the ball when Vanderson missed a header and put it in the net with a precise shot. Barca nearly turned the game completely over in the 32nd minute after a defensive mess in Monaco‘s penalty area but Balde was also surprised by the events and didn‘t manage to shot properly. Embolo eventually scored but luckily for the Catalans, the goal was ruled out due to offside.Second half was not so intense, at least until Monaco scored again, as both clubs had a chance apiece. Raphinha was all alone with the Monaco keeper, but he raced out on time and just arrived to clear the ball in front of the Brazilian. Vanderson took a great shot and forced Ter Stegen to strech out in order to save his shot. But the decisive moment came in the 72nd minute when a long ball came from Monaco‘s defense and found George Ilenikhena who was quicker than Íñigo Martínez and beat Ter Stegen with a powerful shot for the second and final lead.UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – MATCHDAY 1TuesdayJuventus – PSV 3-1 (2-0)/Yildiz 21, McKennie 27, Gonzales 52 – Saibari 90+3/Young Boys – Aston Villa 0-3 (0-2)/Tielemans 27, Ramsey 38, Onana 85/AC Milan – Liverpool 1-3 (1-2)/Pulisic 3 – Konate 23, van Dijk 41, Szoboszlai 67/Bayern – Dinamo Zagreb 9-2 (3-0)/Kane 19 pen, 58, 63 pen, 78 pen Guerreiro 33, Olise 38, 61, Sane 85, Goretzka 90+2 – Petkovic 49, Ogiwara 50/Real Madrid – Stuttgart 3-1 (0-0)/Mbappe 46, Rudiger 83, Endrick 90+5 – Undav 68/Sporting – Lille 2-0 (1-0)/Gyokeres 38, Debast 65/WednesdayBologna – Shakhtar 0-0Sparta Praha – Salzburg 3-0 (2-0)/Kairinen 2, Olatunji 42, Laci 58/Celtic- Slovan B. 5-1 (1-0)/Scales 17, Furuhashi 47, Englels 56, Maeda 70, Idah 86/Club Brugge – Dortmund 0-3 (0-0)/Gittens 76, 86, Guirassy 90+5 (p)/Man.City – Inter 0-0PSG – Girona 1-0 (0-0)/Gazzaniga (og) 90/ThursdayCrvena Zvezda – Benfica 1-2 (0-2)/Milson 86 – Artukoglu 9, Kokcu 29/Feyenoord – Leverkusen 0-4 (0-4)/Wirtz 9, 36, Grimaldo 30, Wellenreuther 44(og)/Atalanta – Arsenal 0-0Atl.Madrid – RB Leipzig 2-1 (1-1)/Griezmann 28, Gimenez 90 – Šeško 4/Brest – Sturm 2-1 (1-1)/Magnetti 23, Sima 56 – Fernandes 45+1(og)Monaco – Barcelona 2-1 (1-1)/Akliouche 16, Ilenikhena 71- Yamal 28/
