Match Reports
Biereth, Embolo’s Second Half Goals Push Monaco Past Nice
While winning the derby is always important, this contest had more at stake, considering these two sides are battling to secure an automatic UEFA Champions League spot for next season.
Monaco didn't start the game in a manner that they would've liked as they failed to capitalize on a penalty kick opportunity less than 10 minutes into the match.
Baptiste Santamaria played the ball back to his goalkeeper under pressure, putting him in a tough spot. Nice couldn't clear the danger, and Santamaria was late to react again, leading to the penalty kick call.
Despite the challenging start to the contest, the away side didn't concede as Marcin Bułka came up big with a save. Mika Biereth struck his penalty low, but the Polish goalkeeper dived to his left and kept it out.
The game nearly went into halftime scoreless, but Nice went up 1-0 after Jonathan Clauss sprinted down the right and whipped in a perfect cross, and Jérémie Boga headed it past Philipp Köhn.
Monaco responded coming out of the break as Biereth made up for his missed penalty kick to level the scoring one-all in the 55th minute. The Dane fired a shot into the near post, beating Bułka to draw even, but the home side wasn't done there.
In the 73rd minute, Monaco took the lead after a goal from Breel Embolo. Maghnes Akliouche, once again, set up Embolo in the box. The Swiss striker weaved through the Nice defense and kept his cool to beat Bułka.
Embolo's goal proved to be the difference maker as Adi Hütter and his team secured all three points, moving them to second place with 50 points. The loss isn't ideal for Nice, but they remain in fourth place with 47 points, which is a Champions League qualification spot.
After the match, Bułka spoke to DAZN and noted that Nice felt good about themselves heading into halftime but credited Monaco with their second half performance.
"At halftime, we can say that everything is perfect because I saved a penalty and we scored a goal. But overall, we have to admit, even though it's hard, that Monaco was better than us. (...) We lost too many balls, especially in midfield... If you lose that many balls, they are definitely going to be effective."
The Stat: 12
Over the past 75 years, the players who scored the most goals in their first Ligue 1 McDonald's season, starting in January, are Hugo Curioni with 14 goals in 1973-74, Eduardo Di Loreto with 12 goals in 1953-54, and Biereth, who has also scored 12 goals in the 2024-25 season.
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