WATCH: Monaco re-take lead against Barcelona in Champions League opener | OneFootball

Barcelona have battled bravely with 10 men for over an hour in their first league phase match of the 2024-25 Champions League. They even managed to equaliser after falling behind in the early stages, but Monaco have now re-established the lead that they once held.

Eric Garcia’s red card had Barcelona on the back foot early on, and things got worse when Monaco opened the scoring a few minutes later. Remarkably, Lamine Yamal found an equaliser for the 10 men inside the first half, but the Ligue 1 side have now gone 2-1 up courtesy of George Ilenikhena.

It’s poor defending once against from Barcelona, as was the case with the first goal. Ilenikhena was easily played in behind, and he made no mistake to fire past Marc-Andre Ter Stegen on his Champions League debut.

Barcelona are now running out of time to save something from this match. Hansi Flick needs something big from his players.