Late penalty gives Monaco 2-2 draw with Man City
MONACO :Monaco salvaged a 2-2 draw at home to Manchester City with a last-gasp penalty by Eric Dier on Wednesday after the visitors failed to make the most of their domination in the second round of Champions League matches.
Dier buried a penalty in the 90th minute to cancel out Erling Haaland’s first-half double, after Jordan Teze’s early equaliser for the French side.
That denied City what would have been their first away win in the competition in 12 months.
Pep Guardiola’s team, who had opened their campaign with a 2-0 win against Napoli, now have four points while Monaco are in the elimination zone on one point after their 4-1 defeat at Club Brugge in the first round.
City next travel to Villarreal on October 21 and Monaco will entertain Tottenham Hotspur the following day.
"I don't think we played good enough. We don't deserve to win. We need more energy. We needed to do more of what we did in the first half," Haaland said.
"We dominated much more and then in the second half they took the lead much more. It's not good enough."
In a quiet Louis II stadium, City were quickly in action.
Haaland darted behind the defence and dinked a lob over goalkeeper Phillip Koehn for his 51st goal in 50 Champions League appearances in the 15th minute.
Monaco's Folarin Balogun was inches away from connecting with a Maghnes Akliouche cross before Jordan Teze pounced after a high press, drilling a finish into the top corner that left City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma with no chance three minutes later.
HAALAND DOUBLE
Monaco, however, were on the back foot, pegged into their own half with Phil Foden rattling the crossbar as the visitors dominated.
Haaland was at it again on the stroke of halftime as he rose to meet Nico O’Reilly’s cross and powered a header into the bottom corner to restore City’s lead with his second of the night.
Monaco upped the tempo after the break and Maghnes Akliouche cut inside his marker before firing a low right-footed shot that Donnarumma turned behind for a corner.
But City regained possession and Haaland came close to wrapping it up with a powerful low shot 16 minutes from time.
The visitors, however, lacked a cutting edge and seemed content with their single-goal advantage.
They were made to regret that when, following a VAR review, Monaco were awarded a penalty after Nico Gonzalez’s high foot hit Dier’s head.
The England international sent Donnarrumma the wrong way to earn his team a point they did not seem to deserve.
(Writing by Julien Pretot in Paris; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
