Bruno Lage reacts to Adi Hütter’s comments on Monaco’s ‘unlucky’ elimination to Benfica | OneFootball

Adi Hütter has revealed his pride in his young AS Monaco side despite their elimination from the Champions League at the hands of Benfica (4-3 on aggregate).

After losing the first leg at home, Monaco travelled to Portugal hoping to overturn a 1-0 deficit. The visitors were thrown a lifeline late yesterday evening when the substitute George Ilenikhena (18) scored in the 81st minute to put Monaco 3-2 up on the night and level on aggregate.

However, this would last only minutes before defensive errors, which had plagued Monaco across the night, reared their head and saw Orkun Kökçü (24) score what proved to be the decider in the 84th minute. A communication mix-up between Thilo Kehrer and Wilfried Singo allowed the Dutchman to tap home Álvaro Carreras’ cross.

Hütter highlighted the positives in his post-match comments, “I’m really proud of this young team and what they showed against Benfica. In my opinion, we deserved to go through. Benfica were really lucky. But we are also responsible for not having scored more. We had fantastic opportunities. In the end, we can regret having not scored enough and having conceded three goals. It’s too much at this level.”

His comments were not well received by his opposite number Bruno Lage. The former Wolverhampton Wanderers head coach stated, “You know, every time I win, I’m always lucky.” He continued, “I’ve played against him five times, he always complains. Sometimes it’s the coach, sometimes it’s luck…”

GFFN | Nick Hartland