It's Maghnes to the Power of 8 for our MVP against Sainté! | OneFootball

Doublement décisif en inscrivant le but le plus rapide de la saison, puis en mettant Folarin Balogun sur orbite pour le troisième but, le milieu offensif a été désigné homme de la victoire face à Saint-Étienne (1-3).

He likes to collect awards. By guiding AS Monaco to a very important win in Saint-Étienne on Saturday (1-3), thanks notably to another assist, Maghnes Akliouche won his 8th MVP award of the season. And for good reason, as it was the Academy-trained playmaker who would light up the match against Les Verts by opening the scoring after… 1 minute and 18 seconds of play!

A classic team effort to open the scoring ⚽

It was indeed at the end of a classy collective movement triggered by Philipp Köhn, that the Monaco number 11 took advantage of a superb three-way play between Biereth-Balogun-Minamino and yet another caviar from Caio Henrique (his 32nd in Ligue 1, ed) to unlock the game (0-1, 2′)!

It was a clever finish at the far post, his 5th in Ligue 1 this season, and above all the fastest for AS Monaco in the top flight since that Wissam Ben Yedder scored against Lyon on April 28, 2024 (21 seconds).

Inches away from a double 🥅

It was a taste of what was to come, as the jewel developed at La Diagonale then outwitted his defender with a fine bit of skill, only to fail to deliver a decisive pass on the turn thereafter (22′). But above all, he would come close to a second on a superb deep pass from Takumi Minamino, on which Larsonneur would intervene well (29′). It is then in the second half that Maghnes would further distinguish himself, by passing this time.

Caviar by the spoonful! 🎯

It was indeed he who took advantage of a poor restart from Saint-Etienne to send in — with a first-time ball — Folarin Balogun for the final goal (1-3, 78′)! It was his ninth assist of the season in the top flight, and he has now been involved in 18 goals in all competitions in 2024-2025 (7 goals, 11 assists), more than any other AS Monaco player.

I was really happy but I thought I might be flagged offside, so I was a bit nervous about celebrating. I was happy though because the goal gave us the opportunity to take a lead in the game and we needed that.

MVP mode activated 🏆

But beyond his contribution to the Rouge et Blanc victory, the French U-21 international also stood out for his outstanding performance (11 duels contested, 4 recoveries, 1 interception, 2 dribbles, 2 crosses, 4 shots).

It was a performance that more than justifies his 8th MVP of the season, best in the squad, having earned a whopping 89% of the votes on the AS Monaco App. He also made the Team of the Round in l’Équipe for Matchday 32. Bravo Maghnes! 👏

*In parentheses, the number of MVPs won this season