Hosts Monaco defeated Leverkusen by a narrow 1-0 margin tonight at the Stade Louis II.
The visitors came into this match having won four of their first five opening fixtures of the season and sit in first place at the top of the Bundesliga table. On the other hand, Monaco had gotten off to a poor start in Ligue 1 and currently sit second from the bottom.
It was cagey affair with both sides being fairly physical as players were drawing fouls all over the place. There was an early shout for a penalty, in the third minute of play, as Monaco thought that one of the Leverkusen players had handled the ball with his arm, but the Czech ref was not having any of it.
A few minutes later, Stefan Kiessling, took a boot to his head and had to receive treatment on the sideline. He was fairly anonymous throughout the game and did not have a great effect in front of goal. Kiessling did help in the build up though and was involved often.
Leverkusen had two great opportunities to score within the first 15 minutes of play. Castro was open on the right side of the pitch and shot the ball back towards the left, but completely missed the target. He had more time on the ball and could have perhaps done better in the end with his effort. Calhanoglu had the next opportunity two minutes later in the 15th as his shot also went wide of the goal, but the visitors were looking dangerous.
Young Belgian attacking forward, Ferreira-Carrasco, had a great look at goal 23 minutes into the match, but the ball wouldn't settle down properly and he blasted his shot over the top from about 25 yards out. Karim Bellarabi had the best chance of the evening after thirty minutes when he was alone with Subasic, but Bellarabi tried to be too cute when he tried to place his shot instead of hitting his shot powerfully.
The second half saw Monaco struck first right after the hour mark. Berbatov headeding the ball down beautifully to the run of Portugese midfielder Joao Moutinho who got the ball in behind Leno even though the German goalkeeper was able to get a slight deflection. From then on, it was all Monaco. They were pressing for a second goal that never came, even though Monaco probably deserved their second after the way they turned the tides.
Leverkusen will be kicking themselves for not taking their chances better as they lost all three points to a Monaco side who had been in poor form to start this season. The Germans will now have to regroup as they play hosts to Benfica in a month while Monaco travel to Russia to take on an always very tough Zenit St. Petersburg.