Club Brugge proved to be too hot to handle for Monaco in the Champions League on Thursday.
Monaco was beaten 4-1 a day after the team’s flight to Bruges was aborted because the air conditioning on the plane malfunctioned and players were forced to take their clothes off due to the excessively hot conditions.
Monaco, which ended up flying out Thursday morning instead, was blown away by a three-goal burst in a 10-minute spell late in the first half.
Nicolò Tresoldi poked in a finish from Brugge captain
Hans Vanaken’s through-ball in the 32nd, Raphael Onyedika bundled in a second from close range in the 39th following a corner, and Vanaken volleyed home a looping shot in the 42nd.
Mamadou Diakhon blasted home a fourth goal in the 75th for Brugge, which reached the Round of 16 last season where it lost to Aston Villa.
It might have been different had highly rated Monaco forward Maghnes Akliouche converted a penalty in the 10th minute after Brugge goalkeeper Simon Mignolet tripped Mika Biereth. Mignolet made amends by saving Akliouche’s spot kick, received a yellow card for celebrating in the face of the referee, and moments later went off with an injury.
Ansu Fati scored a stoppage-time consolation goal for Monaco.
In the other early kickoff, Kasper Hjulmand returned to Denmark for his first Champions League match in charge of Bayer Leverkusen — and a first in over a decade — and saw his new team escape with a 2-2 draw at FC Copenhagen thanks to a stoppage-time own-goal.
Pantelis Hatzidiakos deflected the ball into his own net from substitute Claudio Echeverri's cross to gift Leverkusen a second equalizer, with the first coming from Álex Grimaldo's stunning free kick in the 82nd.
Jordan Larsson — the son of former Barcelona and Sweden striker Henrik Larsson — swept home a left-footed finish from close range to put Copenhagen in front and Robert, a 20-year-old Brazilian on loan from Cruzeiro, thought he had headed in the winner in the 87th.
In the late kickoffs, Barcelona will have to cope without superstar winger Lamine Yamal for a trip to Newcastle and there's a sooner-than-expected return to Manchester City for Kevin De Bruyne.
The 18-year-old Yamal will not appear for Barca because of an injury the team said the Spain winger sustained on international duty last week, meaning some star power will be missing at St. James’ Park.
Yamal, the heir to Lionel Messi at Barcelona, is key to the team’s chances of becoming European champion for the first time since 2015 so his absence is a big boost for Newcastle, which is starting the second Champions League campaign under its Saudi Arabian ownership. In the 2023-24 season, Newcastle finished bottom of its group in the old format.
De Bruyne bade an emotional farewell to City in May after a 10-year stint during which he established himself as arguably the club’s greatest ever player.
Four months later, the Belgium midfielder is back at Etihad Stadium — but in a jersey of new team Napoli.
In other matches, Eintracht Frankfurt hosts Galatasaray and Kairat, a tournament newcomer from Almaty in Kazakhstan, visits Sporting Lisbon after what's thought to be the longest ever trek for a Champions League fixture — across three time zones and more than 7,000 kilometers (4,350 miles).
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