{"id":647489,"date":"2025-12-22T03:08:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T03:08:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/647489\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T03:08:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T03:08:20","slug":"biereths-brace-powers-as-monaco-to-victory-over-auxerre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/647489\/","title":{"rendered":"Biereth\u2019s brace powers AS Monaco to victory over Auxerre"},"content":{"rendered":"

Victorious over AJ Auxerre at the end of an intense match, AS Monaco secured their place in the Coupe de France round of 16 thanks to a brace from Mika Biereth.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Monaco kicked off their Coupe de France campaign with a well-deserved triumph in Burgundy. In the only all-Ligue 1 clash of the round of 32, S\u00e9bastien Pocognoli\u2019s men were driven to success by Biereth\u2019s double. Despite conceding a first-half penalty, the Mon\u00e9gasques maintained their dominance, created numerous chances and ultimately claimed a crucial 2\u20131 win.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a9 AS Monaco<\/p>\n

Encouraging start to the match<\/p>\n

Supported by 500 Mon\u00e9gasque supporters, the Red and Whites immediately took control of proceedings. In the first minute, Biereth, leading the line alongside Folarin Balogun, nearly opened the scoring with a lob that drifted just wide. Their superiority was quickly confirmed with clear attempts from Maghnes Akliouche (3\u2019) and Balogun (5\u2019).<\/p>\n

In the eighth minute, ASM logically opened the scoring. Biereth guided a header over Th\u00e9o De Percin after a pinpoint cross from Akliouche (0\u20131). A deserved goal for the classy and well-organised Mon\u00e9gasques, who continued to push to extend their advantage.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a9 AS Monaco<\/p>\n

A penalty that revives Auxerre<\/p>\n

Masters of the game during the first half hour, the Mon\u00e9gasques came close to doubling their lead when Balogun\u2019s header grazed the crossbar (12\u2019). But by not capitalising on their ascendancy, Monaco left themselves exposed. Following a defensive intervention by Aleksandr Golovin, the referee awarded a disputed penalty to the home team. With no VAR in operation in the early rounds of the Coupe de France, the decision stood. Auxerre captain Assane Diouss\u00e9 made no mistake, firing straight down the middle to beat Luk\u00e1\u0161 Hr\u00e1deck\u00fd and level the score (28\u2019, 1\u20131).<\/p>\n

It was a brutal setback for Monaco, who had generated several chances to restore their advantage, notably through Akliouche (26\u2019), who failed to convert his one-on-one with De Percin. The end of the first period was further complicated by the stretchered exit of Takumi Minamino, who was forced off and replaced by Mamadou Coulibaly (32\u2019).<\/p>\n

At the other end of the pitch, Auxerre \u2013 already beaten by Monaco in the league earlier this term \u2013 were more enterprising but unable to find the breakthrough before half-time.<\/p>\n

The Mamadou Coulibaly show<\/p>\n

The second stanza began with a bang as a reinvigorated Auxerre took the initiative. Hr\u00e1deck\u00fd pulled off a fine save to deny Fredrik Oppeg\u00e5rd (48\u2019) before Rudy Matondo saw his follow-up skim wide. For around 20 minutes, the Red and Whites struggled to get a foothold in the encounter. It was Balogun who finally sparked his side, unleashing a quality strike that drew a full-stretch stop from De Percin (67\u2019, 1\u20131).<\/p>\n

As is often the case at Monaco, the inspiration came from a player trained at the club. Introduced as a substitute, Coulibaly produced a superb slaloming run through the heart of the Auxerre defence before perfectly teeing up Biereth. The Danish international striker showed no hesitation, placing his shot across goal to complete a much-needed brace (74\u2019, 1\u20132).<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a9 AS Monaco<\/p>\n

A breathless end<\/p>\n

Monaco could have put the game to bed, but Balogun missed a gilt-edged chance after a pass from Akliouche (79\u2019), while Biereth was denied a hat-trick by a powerful effort saved by De Percin (82\u2019). Moments later, Thilo Kehrer saw his header crash against the post (83\u2019).<\/p>\n

While AJA gave everything in the closing minutes, Hr\u00e1deck\u00fd remained alert to the final Burgundian assaults (90\u2019, 94\u2019), sparing the Red and Whites the ordeal of a penalty shootout.<\/p>\n

Mika Biereth: \u201cIt\u2019s been a difficult season for me\u201d<\/p>\n

Fresh off bagging a brace, Biereth was honest about his team\u2019s performance in the mixed zone, stating: \u201cWe could have done better in certain situations, the most important thing is to qualify for the next round.\u201d Struggling since the start of the season, Biereth then spoke on his personal situation: \u201cIt\u2019s been a difficult season for me so far. I hope that this match will serve as a turning point and that I can play like last season,\u201d he reflected.<\/p>\n

Pocognoli clearly displayed the club\u2019s ambitions in this competition. \u201cWe have the ambition to go as far as possible. The Coupe de France can be an opportunity to go to Europe, it\u2019s the shortest way to get there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a9 AS Monaco<\/p>\n

Focus on 2026<\/p>\n

The victory allowed Monaco to close out 2025 on a positive note following their league defeat to Olympique de Marseille. The Coupe de France next round is scheduled to take place between January 9 and 11, 2026, away with US Orl\u00e9ans, who are currently third in the National 1 standings. Meanwhile, in Ligue 1, ASM will host Olympique Lyonnais on January 3, as they look to continue to climb up the table.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victorious over AJ Auxerre at the end of an intense match, AS Monaco secured their place in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":647490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[65274,2000,299,36],"class_list":{"0":"post-647489","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-as-monaco","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-france"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115761022706661298","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=647489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}