Monaco head into this Playoff round second leg with a 3-2 aggregate lead from an eventful first meeting, though their home performance was far from commanding. Their lineup shows five changes from the regular side, suggesting rotation is a real factor. Gornik Zabrze have yet to w…
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Sign inMonaco welcome Gornik Zabrze on Thursday for the second leg of their UEFA Europa Conference League playoff tie, protecting a slender 3-2 advantage from an eventful first meeting in Poland. Filipe Luís’s side are a step away from the group stage but must navigate a home leg with an attack stripped of several key names.
Monaco’s forward line has been decimated. Folarin Balogun is absent amid strong links to Tottenham, Matthis Abline suffered a minor foot injury in pre‑season, and Ansu Fati has not recovered in time. Behind them, Aleksandr Golovin is injured, Takumi Minamino continues his recovery from an ACL tear, and Mohammed Salisu remains out with a cruciate ligament injury. That leaves Mika Biereth as the focal point up front. The Danish striker started the first leg and opened the scoring, supported by Paris Brunner and the youthful Mathys Detourbet in attacking midfield. Lukas Hradecky is set to continue in goal, shielded by a back four likely to feature Christian Mawissa, Eric Dier, Vanderson, and Nazinho.
Gornik Zabrze arrived in the tie having already played nine competitive matches and were missing Jaroslaw Kubicki with a broken arm. The Polish side, 80 per cent owned by Lukas Podolski, can call on Kacper Urbanski – scorer of the opening goal in their Europa League qualifier against Ferencvaros – while Erik Prekop and Lukas Khlan offer threat in the final third.
In Zabrze, Monaco flew out of the blocks. Biereth gave the Ligue 1 visitors an early lead, and Lamine Camara doubled the advantage after the break. Each time Gornik pulled a goal back, Monaco responded – Paris Brunner restored the cushion to make it 3-2. The result gives Luís’s squad a vital one-goal lead to bring home, though the two concessions underline the danger of a Polish side that refused to lie down.
Gornik dropped into the Conference League after a 1-1 aggregate exit to Ferencvaros in the Europa League third qualifying round. They have lost just once in their last six matches across all competitions and will travel knowing an early goal transforms the tie. The physical presence of Prekop and the wide delivery of Khlan caused Monaco’s back line problems in the first leg, and the visitors will need to manage transitions more carefully to avoid being pulled out of shape.
With Balogun, Abline, Fati, Golovin and Minamino all unavailable, Biereth carries the scoring burden. He took his first-leg goal well and will again be asked to link play with Brunner and Detourbet. If Monaco can feed him early, the Dane’s hold-up play could break Gornik’s pressing game. On the other side, Gornik’s central defensive pairing of Josema and Rafal Janicki will need to be alert to the runs of Camara and Denis Zakaria from midfield – Camara’s goal in the first leg came from a late midfield surge.
A place in the Conference League group stage is the prize, and Monaco, already through their Ligue 1 opener at Le Havre, must manage a thin squad through 90 minutes that could define their early season.
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