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Spurs survive onslaught in Champions League stalemate away against Monaco

Monaco's Spanish forward #31 Ansu Fati fights for the ball with Tottenham Hotspur's Portuguese midfielder #06 Joao Palhinha
Monaco's Spanish forward #31 Ansu Fati fights for the ball with Tottenham Hotspur's Portuguese midfielder #06 Joao PalhinhaValery HACHE / AFP

Despite their dominance, AS Monaco were unable to breach Tottenham Hotspur’s goal due to a man-of-the-match performance from Guglielmo Vicario as the teams' UEFA Champions League (UCL) clash ended in a goalless draw, although the Monégasques are now unbeaten in three H2H meetings (W2, D1).

Key stats

- This 0-0 result was Tottenham's first in all competitions since March 2023, a run of 125 matches

- Tottenham faced a total of 23 shots, their most in a UEFA Champions League match since December 2019 (24 v Bayern Munich)

- Tottenham have kept a clean sheet in two of their three games, only Internazionale (three) and Arsenal (three) have done this more often in the UEFA Champions League

Highlights

Analysis

Vicario stats
Vicario statsDave Winter / Shutterstock Editorial / Profimedia / Opta by Stats Perform

Spurs keeper Guglielmo Vicario managed eight saves to keep his side in the match against Monaco, earning an 8.5 Flashscore player rating.

Positions
PositionsValery HACHE / AFP / Opta by Stats Perform

Tottenham struggled to get going against Monaco and were lucky to escape with a point.

Match report

Despite earning a 2-2 draw at home to Manchester City on the previous matchday, Monaco parted company with head coach Adi Hütter shortly after, and his replacement Sébastien Pocognoli was hoping to claim his maiden victory after the hosts could only draw 1-1 with Angers on the weekend.

After a sluggish start from both sides, Les Monégasques began to grow into the contest as Folarin Balogun was denied from a tight angle by Guglielmo Vicario.

Then, a quick counter from a Spurs corner almost ended with the opener, but Ansu Fati stumbled before pulling the trigger in the box. 

Former Arsenal man Balogun had another great opportunity just before the half-hour mark after great link-up play with Takumi Minamino, but Vicario did well to race off his line and smother the Monaco striker.

It took until the 34th minute for Spurs to register their first shot on target when Mohammed Kudus drove into the box, but his shot with his weaker foot was comfortably saved by Philipp Köhn.

Ultimately, Monaco had the best opportunity of the first half after a high press enabled them to dispossess Spurs in their own half before Mamadou Coulibaly slipped Balogun in on goal.

However, the USA international’s shot, which looked like it was going to nestle into the bottom right corner, was brilliantly saved by the feet of Vicario.

The second half was more of the same, with Monaco creating all the chances. Within five minutes of the restart, Maghnes Akliouche showed great composure in the box to create space and shoot low at the near post, but Vicario was quick to get down low and save.

Match stats
Match statsOpta by Stats Perform

Both coaches made changes with around an hour on the clock, and Aleksandr Golovin almost had the opener within minutes of coming onto the pitch.

However, his effort from the edge of the box was again turned behind by Vicario who was proving unbeatable in the Spurs goal. 

With time running out, Thomas Frank’s men struggled to gain a foothold in proceedings and the hosts looked the likeliest to break the deadlock. But, as he had all evening, Vicario kept his side in the contest by making a stunning save to deny Jordan Teze’s header on the goalline.

In the end, neither outfit was able to find the elusive goal and, despite having over 20 shots, Pocognoli’s men just could not find the back of the net.

A point apiece keeps Tottenham unbeaten in the UCL (W1, D2), while Monaco are still searching for their first victory following consecutive draws and a Matchday 1 defeat. 

Flashscore Man of the Match: Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham Hotspur)

Post-match comments

Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario to TNT Sports:

"Not the best performance from us.

"A lot to work with, a lot to learn from this game because the level in the Champions League is very high.

"Tonight was about the effort, the mentality, the awareness of danger that we need to have in some situations. I think tonight, we lacked a little bit of that."

Catch up on the match stats with Flashscore