AS Monaco suffered a 2-0 defeat to Sporting Lisbon on Saturday evening at the Estádio José Alvalade, with a heavily rotated and youthful Monaco side unable to match their more advanced Portuguese hosts, who came into the match further along in their own pre-season preparations.
The result follows Monaco’s 5-2 win over AS Saint-Priest the previous weekend, and marked their second friendly of the 2026-2027 pre-season. Head coach Filipe Luís set his side up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, handing starts to new signings Mathys Detourbet and Flávio Nazinho, the latter facing the club that developed him as a youngster.
Sporting started the stronger of the two sides, and Monaco were forced into some early defending, highlighted by a crucial recovery tackle from Eric Dier on Rafael Nel in the 10th minute and a fine save from Lukáš Hrádecký to deny Flávio Gonçalves shortly after, following a Geny Catamo effort that had already come back off the post. Monaco gradually grew into the game as the half progressed, with new left-back signing testing João Virginia twice, first with a long-range effort that drifted wide, then with a direct free-kick that was well saved. Mika Biereth was also denied in good position just before the break, caught by a Sporting defender at the last moment.
The second half saw Monaco’s youth movement take shape, with midfielder Matthias Wamu introduced early on, but it was the hosts who made the breakthrough. Rafael Nel headed home a cross to put Sporting ahead in the 54th minute. Monaco responded through Aleksandr Golovin, whose direct free-kick flew just over the crossbar, but a wave of substitutions saw Luís’s side reshaped considerably with a string of young Monegasque players introduced. Sporting’s greater experience told soon after, as Jesse Derry doubled their lead in the 68th minute with a curling effort that went in off the post.
Goalkeeper Philipp Köhn, who had replaced Hrádecký, produced two important saves to deny Sporting a third, before being rescued by his own crossbar following a powerful header from Silas Andersen late on. Monaco pushed for a way back into the match until the final whistle, with Oumar Konaté’s late effort straight into the arms of the Sporting goalkeeper, but the match ended 2-0 in the hosts’ favour.
Monaco’s pre-season continues on Friday with a friendly against Cercle Bruges, kicking off at 5pm at the club’s Centre de Performance.