Joao Moutinho scored the only goal of the game to fire Monaco to a 1-0 victory in their Champions League opener against Bayer Leverkusen this evening.
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The visitors should have taken the lead in the 16th minute when Gonzalo Castro was put through on goal by Hakan Calhanoglu's pinpoint pass down the middle, but the midfielder put his effort wide of the target.
Calhanoglu was involved again for Leverkusen as this time he was the recipient of a pass from Stefan Kiessling, and he advanced into the box from the left but smashed his shot into the side-netting.
Karim Bellarabi missed the chance of the half for the German side when he was played through by another incisive pass from Calhanoglu, and when one-on-one with Danijel Subasic, he lost his composure and fired wide.
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After the break, the home side began to pass the ball with better fluency than in the first half but failed to make any clear-cut chances in the opening minutes after the restart.
Monaco did go ahead in the 60th minute as they made Leverkusen pay for their missed opportunities when Layvin Kurzawa played Moutinho through on goal and the Portuguese smashed the ball into the top corner.
Bellarabi had a late effort for the visitors as they attempted to salvage a point, but despite a near-error from Subasic the ball did not cross the goalline.
Yannick Ferreira Carrasco had the chance to seal the win for his side when he was put through by Dimitar Berbatov, but Leverkusen keeper Bernd Leno rushed out to win the ball and clear with a good interception.
Kiessling had one late chance to hand the German side a point, but he could only direct his header straight at Subasic.
Simon Sinclair
