Deschamps marvels at Monaco rout

By Matthew Spiro in Monaco

Inexplicable result
The French Ligue 1 leaders leapfrogged Deportivo to the top of Group C and are now well placed to qualify for the last 16 with nine points from four matches. Deschamps enthused: "To score eight goals against such quality opposition is unbelievable. Sometimes you can't explain everything in football. As a player I don't think I won by such a large margin against a quality team."

Frantic start
Monaco felt hard done by after losing 1-0 to Deportivo in the Riazor a fortnight ago and were clearly keen to prove a point at the Stade Louis II. Four goals for the home side in a frantic opening half-hour seemed to have put the match beyond the Spanish side, but two swift Deportivo strikes - from Diego Tristán and Lionel Scaloni - left Deschamps concerned.

Pršo dashes hope
"We lost our discipline late in the first half and we were under pressure for a few minutes," he admitted. Deportivo boss Javier Irureta certainly believed his side were back in the game. "At 4-2 we still had real hope," he said. But Monaco's nerves were quickly settled when Croatia striker Dado Pršo completed an astonishing hat-trick in first-half injury-time to make it 5-2 at the break.

Strong squad
Pršo, celebrating his 29th birthday, was only in the team due to an injury to Spanish striker Fernando Morientes, but he made full use of his opportunity, scoring a fourth goal in the second half as Monaco ran away with the match. "Dado was magnificent," Monaco winger Jérôme Rothen told uefa.com. "Everyone was worried about Fernando being out but we showed tonight that we do have a squad and we have players who can fill in when need be."

Nearly there
Nevertheless, Rothen, who started the rout with the game's first goal inside two minutes, was quick to point out that Monaco still need a point from their last two matches. "We all feel great tonight, but it is just three points," explained the French international. "We haven't won the war yet, we have only won the battle. Now we need to try to get at least a draw at home to PSV [Eindhoven] because going to Athens in search of a point isn't something we want to put ourselves through."

Irureta stunned
Deportivo, meanwhile, are second in the group with seven points - but now just one point ahead of third-placed PSV. Irureta admitted he was stunned by the scoreline. "In all my career I have never found it so difficult to understand a result," the Deportivo coach said. "We had as many chances as them but we failed to take them, whereas it seemed like they scored every time they attacked." Irureta picked out Monaco skipper Ludovic Giuly, scorer of the home side's second goal, as the key man.

Still hopeful
Deportivo defender Nourredine Naybet suffered a torrid evening but nevertheless insisted the Galician club can still end up Champions League winners. "This is a hard result to comprehend and we are not used to losing by such a score," the Moroccan defender told uefa.com. "But we will not play that badly again. We made too many mistakes tonight and at this level you get punished. People might rule us out now, but I think that would be a dangerous thing to do."