MATCH REPORT | AS Monaco Groupe Élite 3-2 Chelsea U21

AS Monaco’s Groupe Élite beat Chelsea’s U21 team 3-2 at the Principality club’s performance centre in La Turbie, with Enzo Baglieri and Mamadou Coulibaly on the scoresheet for Les Monégasques. 

Just hours after Chelsea’s Champions League defeat at the hands of Real Madrid, the club’s U21 side made the trip to the Riviera to face Monaco’s Groupe Élite, a side that competes in the Premier League International Cup. Coulibaly had the chance to open the scoring inside the opening minute, but it was Chelsea who open the scoring through Harvey Vale, whose lobbed header caught out Yann Lienard in the Monaco goal. 

However, Monaco’s reaction was immediate. Edan Diop, who has featured for Les Monégasques’ first team on multiple occasions this year, put the ball on a plate for Baglieri with his cutback, who duly opened his account on the day. In an open encounter, Chelsea almost regained their advantage, but this time, Lienard had the better of Vale. whose curing effort was tipped wide. 

Instead, it was Monaco who took the lead, and although Coulibaly’s deflected effort was rather fortuitous, Monaco’s lead was deserved. It would get better before the end of the half. From a tight angle, Baglieri doubled his account on the stroke of half-time. 

The second half saw a decrease in intensity, with Monaco largely focusing on hurting their opposition on the break. As Monaco fell deeper, Chelsea grew back into the game. Dion Rankine headed just wide at the back-post before Premier League 2 player of the month Mason Burstow did halve Monaco’s advantage with a simple finish unmarked inside the box. 

Burstow then had a late chance to level the scores, but Monaco held onto the win in front of the club’s President Dimitry Rybolovlev, Sporting Director Paul Mitchell, first-team manager Philippe Clement and La Diagonale graduates including Eliesse Ben Seghir and Eliot Matazo. Les Monégasques head to London to face Chelsea in a return leg on 2nd May.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle