Barcelona unable to overcome goalkeeping errors in loss to Monaco

Barcelona kicked off their Champions League campaing in a similar fashion to the way it ended. Unfortunately, that wasn't a good thing.

The Catalan side quickly found themselves down to ten players after a risky pass from Marc-Andre ter Stegen to Eric Garcia went wrong. Already marked, Garcia lost the ball and then brought the Monaco player who was going to be left one-on-one against Ter Stegen.

Monaco quickly took advantage of their numerical advantage with Maghnes Akliouche rifling a shot with Ter Stegen doing nothing but watching the ball hit the back of the net.

Things looked bleak for Barcelona and a reminder of what they've been in Europe in recent memory.

However, Lamine Yamal brought the Blaugrana a bit of hope as he tied the game in the 28th minute. The 17-year-old used his body well to create some separation between him and the defender and then did well to cut inside and pull off a shot past the keeper.

Barcelona did well to minimize the Monaco threat and held firm despite being down a player.

It was the Catalan side who actually started the second half slightly better. They created some semblance of danger but that final pass never came with Raphinha unable to take advantage on a couple of occasions.

In the 71st minute, George Ilenikhena delivered the winner for Monaco as he was able to beat the offside trap to find himself with more than enough space between himself and Iñigo Martínez. Ilenikhena took a shot which went straight towards Ter Stegen who tried to guess and in doing so, had the ball deflect off his midsection and into goal.

Monaco tried for a third and felt like they were going to get it after Folarin Balogun went down in the box and was awarded a penalty. But it was waived off after a VAR review.

Barcelona were unable to create any more danger and lost their first match in the Champions League this season.

It's going to be a match Ter Stegen is going to want to forget as he played a hand in the second goal and was responsible for Eric Garcia getting sent off. These are the types of errors Barcelona cannot afford to commit in Europe as more often than not, they'll be punished for it.

With the win, Monaco become the first team to beat Hansi Flick's Barcelona this season. They also beat them in preseason in the Joan Gamper match.

The bright spots for Barcelona are Lamine Yamal's goal and Ansu Fati making his season debut. The latter is likely to play an important part this season and needs to get back up to match fitness.

Aside from the obvious lowlights, Barcelona played 80 minutes a player down, meaning everyone had to put in a shift and are more than likely exhausted. With only two days to recover, it will be interesting to see how the team looks on Sunday in their league match against Villarreal.