Fortune favours Deschamps

AS Monaco FC coach Dider Deschamps said that his side could consider themselves "lucky" after Fernando Morientes's headed goal provided them with a potentially vital away goal from their visit to FC Lokomotiv Moskva in the UEFA Champions League first knockout round.

Monaco ride luck
"We were lucky. We could have been knocked out of the Champions League tonight," said Deschamps, after a game in which the home side took a two-goal lead through Marat Izmailov and Vladimir Maminov but missed a handful of other chances to extend their lead and ultimately had to settle for a 2-1 first-leg advantage.

Away goal bonus
"Our away goal is a big plus - and also the final result," added the Monaco coach. "We had almost no scoring chances; our pressure on them was poor and we could not provide any depth to our attack. We only reacted to their style. But [Lokomotiv] are a quality team - technically very good. They played deep, fast and were putting pressure on us all the time."

Near-perfect pitch
Deschamps was no less appreciative of the pitch in the Russian capital. "It was excellent, especially for such a climate," he said. "When you come to Monaco you might be disappointed with our pitch, even though there's a much better climate."

Stars complacent
Deschamps put his side's poor showing down to complacency on the part of his stars. "Some of our players thought they were already in quarter-finals even though Lokomotiv outplayed [FC] Internazionale and [FC] Dynamo Kyiv [in the group stages]," he added.

Semin satisfied
Lokomotiv coach Yuri Semin was understandably the happier but admitted they may rue their missed opportunities. "I am quite satisfied with our quality of play," he said. "But it is also very disappointing that we did not use our numerous scoring chances. Dmitry Loskov, Mikheil Ashvetia and James Obiorah all had very good scoring chances - Monaco didn't have any except from free-kicks."

First for Lokomotiv
Nevertheless, Semin was pleased with the win, especially as it comes more than two months after their last competitive game. "It is a very big victory for us because, as far as I remember, we have never won in February before," he revealed.

Long break showed
"We were quite well-prepared physically, but in some episodes it was evident that we missed practice. Such as after our second goal, when we gave away the initiative and started to play long balls."

Amstel Man of the Match: Marat Izmailov
Lokomotiv's Marat Izmailov has been selected as the Amstel Man of the Match voted by uefa.com users. Izmailov jinked through the Monaco defence to score Lokomotiv's breathtaking opening goal and the strike earned him 35 per cent of the vote.