Monaco boss Niko Kovac urged his players to keep their cool and finish off Sparta Prague on Tuesday night in the hunt for a place in the group stages of this season’s Champions League.
Goals from Aurélien Tchouaméni and Kevin Volland secured a 2-0 victory in Prague in a first leg clash marred by racist jibes from a section of the stands at the Generali Arena after Tchouaméni’s goal.
Kovac praised his players’ calm in the aftermath of the insults and ahead of the return leg at the Stade Louis II, he called on them to maintain their resolve.
“We'll have to be 100 per cent focused,” said the Croatian. "We played one half in Prague and now we have to play the second half. Nothing is finished yet and the players know this. We'll give it our all.”
Reward
Should Monaco see off Sparta, they will face either Genk or Shakhtar Donetsk in the play-off round for a berth in the group stages with fellow Ligue 1 sides Lille and Paris Saint Germain who finished the 2021 campaign in first and second respectively.
By the time the group stages start on 14 September, PSG could boast Lionel Messi in a forward line that already contains Neymar, Kylian Mbappé and Angel Di Maria.
Messi, 34, is understood to have agreed terms with PSG and was expected in the French capital on Tuesday to complete the deal.
The circus around his arrival at the Parc des Princes is likely to overshadow Monaco’s progress or demise as well the ugly hinterland of the first leg in the Czech Republic.
Condemnation
As part of the effort to repair relations ahead of the game in Monaco, Sparta issued a statement decrying the racist chanting.
“We are coming as a team and a club supporting equality and fighting racism for a healthier world,” the club said.
“We state that our club unanimously condemns any kind of discriminatory behaviour including racism. AC Sparta Praha do not and will not tolerate any kind of such behaviour and endeavour to actively fight against it by all possible means.
"We are deeply saddened by the incident that occurred during the game last week.”
Sparta boss Pavel Vrba conceded Monaco would be favourites to advance but said his players wanted to add tension to the tie.
“I think say the match will be influenced by the first goal,” said the 57-year-old. “If we scored it, it would be very tense ... we will try to score first.”
