A goal to erase his mistake
Flavio Nazinho lived two games in one on Friday night at the Parc des Princes. The Portuguese left-back first got it wrong on Marquinhos’s opening goal, then made amends by scoring himself. Monaco left Paris with a 2-1 win.
The 23-year-old made no excuses after the match. “Marquinhos’s goal? That’s on me, I told my teammates that. I didn’t see the ball and I was late. I’ll own that,” he admitted. He insisted he kept his cool. “I think I put it right with my goal.”
His display was about more than that finish. Nazinho kept Maghnes Akliouche quiet in his channel and was also happy to take on Achraf Hakimi when the Moroccan pushed forward to create an overload.
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Idumbo’s biggest fan
Stanis Idumbo, also on the scoresheet on Friday, was full of praise for his team-mate. “Nazinho is incredible, I love that player a lot. It’s easy to play with him because he’s strong both defensively and offensively, and he helps me a lot,” said the Monaco winger.
Nazinho, though, put the focus back on the team. “To beat PSG, you have to play as a unit. When you do that, you can beat anyone. That’s the key.” The Portuguese defender also backed the ambition being talked up inside the dressing room. “We want to go for the title, and we talk about it among ourselves.”
Monaco top, Filipe Luis gets the nod
That sort of talk is backed by results. Monaco are top of Ligue 1 with 9 points, two clear of Lyon and Lille. The Principality club have already gone to PSG and won on their own patch.
Nazinho gave credit to his manager. Filipe Luis is living his first spell in charge in European football. “He’s a very good coach. We listen to him and follow him, he’s close to the players. We’re behind him,” said the full-back.
He has started every game so far. A few weeks in, and the left-back nobody was talking about in August has become one of the stories of the Ligue 1 season.
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