MATCH REPORT | AS Monaco 1-1 Cercle Brugge: Thilo Kehrer scores in pre-season friendly | OneFootball

Luke Entwistle reporting from La Turbie

After a 1-0 defeat against Servette last Saturday, AS Monaco continued their pre-season preparations with a 1-1 draw against satellite club Cercle Brugge in La Turbie on Saturday.

With first-team regulars such as Folarin Balogun, Guillermo Maripán, Breel Embolo, Denis Zakaria and Youssouf Fofana all on holiday following the conclusion of their respective Copa América and Euros campaigns, and with other first-teamers such as Caio Henrique (injury), Vanderson (injury), Maghnes Akliouche (Olympics), Soungoutou Magassa (Olympics) and Eliesse Ben Seghir (Olympics) all absent, there were opportunities for academy players and returning loanees to shine.

Eliot Matazo, returning from a loan spell in his native Belgium, took his chance, performing well and staking a claim to remain at the Principality club for the upcoming campaign. However, the match against Cercle Brugge, who begin their UEFA Europa League campaign against Kilmarnock in just under a fortnight’s time, was about building fitness levels.

Monaco internationals’ return dates set

Unlike in the first match, Adi Hütter did not rotate the full starting XI at half-time in order to build those fitness levels. “We want to increase our load. The physical output was much better than in the game against Servette. I wanted to give the players more than 60 minutes. The feedback from the players is that they are feeling much better too,” Hütter told Get French Football News.

In front of the onlooking Dmitry Rybolovlev, but also OGC Nice sporting director Florian Maurice, Thilo Kehrer got Monaco’s only goal of the game in the 12th minute, two minutes after Kevin Denkey had given Cercle Brugge the lead from the spot after a clumsy foul from Wilfried Singo. Both sides had chances to win the game with Myron Boadu notably hitting the post and Jordan Semedo Varela seeing an effort cleared off the line.

“It was a good test,” analysed Hütter. “They play a physical style of football and lots of long balls, second balls. I’m happy with the draw.”

Hütter also confirmed the return dates for some of the returning internationals. Balogun and Maripán will return on 24th July, Zakaria and Embolo on 29th July, whilst Fofana will return on 1st August, if he returns at all. The France international is highly sought after this summer and a deal to take him to AC Milan is reportedly advancing.

Monaco XI v Cercle Brugge

Yann Lienard; Ismail Jakbos (replaced by Kassoum Ouattara 45′), Thilo Kehrer (replaced by Bradel Kiwa 76′), Wifried Singo (replaced by Samuel Nibombe 76′), Krépin Diatta (replaced by Aurélien Platret 68′); Edan Diop (replaced by Félix Lemarechal 45′), Mohamed Camara (replaced by Jules Béry 68′), Eliot Matazo (replaced by Ritchy Valme 68′); Aleksandr Golovin (replaced by Jordan Semedo Varela 68′), Myron Boadu (replaced by Romaric Etondé 68′), Takumi Minamino (replaced by Nazim Babaï 45′).

GFFN | Luke Entwistle

Photo credit: AS Monaco