Barcelona’s perfect start to the season ended in their European debut with a 2-1 defeat by AS Monaco in the Stade Louis II in their Champions League opening match on Thursday. Barça had Eric García sent off after just 10 minutes and had to spend the rest of the evening playing catch-up. Despite fighting as hard as they could with ten men for most of the game, they were unable to salvage even a point.

FIRST HALF

Hansi Flick surprisingly decided to put Eric García in the starting line-up to strengthen the midfield for an away game in the European Cup. But after just ten minutes, his decision backfired: Marc-André ter Stegen made a bad pass that put Eric in a difficult position, and the defender fouled Takumi Minamino on the edge of the penalty area and received a red card for preventing a clear goal-scoring opportunity.

Then Maghnes Akliouche scored a beautiful left-footed goal to put the home side ahead, and after just 15 minutes Barça were in big trouble. For a while it looked like they would fall even further behind, as Monaco easily found holes in the Barcelona Defence, while the Catalans tried to regroup spontaneously, but some decisive interventions by Pau Cubarsí and Iñigo Martínez as well as a few well-timed offside traps prevented the visitors from getting into any greater trouble.

Barça could no longer press high up the pitch and lost possession. Flick’s team played very direct and tried to get the ball forward from the back as quickly as possible, while Pedri and Marc Casadó ran around the midfield to connect the lines. Lamine Yamal also played a big role in keeping the ball and taking some pressure off the defenders. He brought Barça back into the game with a beautiful finish and his first Champions League goal.

The last 15 minutes of the half were wild and chaotic: Monaco had some great chances and both teams made some tough tackles. The referee struggled to keep control and had to show a few yellow cards to calm things down.

The half-time whistle brought an end to a crazy first half. Barça were a man down but still in the game. Would Flick be able to work his magic during the break to give his team a chance in the second half?

SECOND HALF

Barça started the final phase well, dropping deeper to defend closer to goal and not allowing any easy opportunities, while posing a real threat on the counterattack with quick, precise passes.

In the first 15 minutes of the first half, the visitors controlled the proceedings and Monaco only caused trouble once with a long-range shot from Vanderson, which ter Stegen had to parry with a good save.

Monaco slowly but surely regained their dominance and became more dangerous, with Adi Hütter having a positive influence with his substitutions. And one of them put the home team ahead again: a long ball from the back found George Ilenikhena, who was all alone and had time and space to run into the box, and the striker fired it past ter Stegen and into the net, giving Monaco their second lead of the night.

Barça struggled to gain momentum in their last-gasp attempt to pull back, and Hansi Flick didn’t have many options on the bench. Ferran Torres was the only attacker to come on as the coach made three substitutions with ten minutes to go. Monaco, on the other hand, looked confident, continuing to play high and trying to score a third goal and secure the win.

The hosts almost had that chance with five minutes left when the referee pointed to the penalty spot after Folarin Balogun went down in the box following a tackle by Iñigo Martínez. However, the video referee called the referee to the screen and the decision was overturned as it was clear that Balogun had committed a diving challenge.

Barça had a small chance to salvage a point in the last minute, the best of which came when Raphinha won a free kick on the edge of the box but put it over the bar. Monaco managed to buy time in the dying seconds and the final whistle secured them all three points.

We will never know how different the game would have been had ter Stegen not made the early mistake that got Eric García sent off, but Barça’s hunger, determination and organisation in the final 80 minutes with ten men show that they can still compete at a really high level under Flick.

As strange as that sounds, it was a good time and a good way to concede the first defeat. Given the circumstances, it doesn’t really damage the team’s confidence and it proves that they are clearly on the right track and will have much better nights in Europe this season.

Monaco: Koehn; Singo, Kehrer, Salisu, Vanderson (Magassa 88′); Camara (Golovin 46′), Zakaria; Akliouche, Minamino (Balogun 70′), Ben Seghir (Henrique 70′); Embolo (Ilenikhena 59′)

Goals: Akliouche (16th), Ilenikhena (71st)

Barcelona: ter Stegen; Kounde, Cubarsí (Domínguez 79′), Iñigo, Balde (Fati 88′); Casado, Eric; Yamal (Ferran 79′), Pedri (Torre 83′), Raphinha; Lewandowski (Martín 79′)

Goal: Jamal (28′)

Red card: Eric (11′)