Carrillo strikes late for Monaco to conquer Troyes

Guido Carrillo bagged a brace in the last five minutes to save Monaco’s blushes on Saturday night and secure a 3-2 victory over Troyes. The champions were 2-0 down to the visitors following goals from Hyun-Jun Suk either side of the pause.

Guido Carrillo came off the bench to help Monaco beat Troyes Reuters/Eric Gaillard

But Leonardo Jardim’s men were given some hope when Mathieu Deplagne put through his own net after 70 minutes.

It was a deflection that turned the match according to Troyes boss Jean-Louis Garcia. “We were really unlucky with the own goal since it hit him on the side and went in.”

With a draw in sight and time running out, Jardim brought on 21-year-old striker Adama Diakhaby for defender Jorge after 83 minutes.

Within two minutes of his arrival, Carrillo had levelled. The Argentine headed home from a Joao Moutinho cross and two minutes from time slotted past Troyes goalkeeper Mamadou Samassa after being set up by Kamil Glik.

"The team showed lots of character," said Jardim. “That’s the most important thing. They didn’t drop their heads. And I’m pleased for Carrillo. He is an excellent player who works hard and has a great attitude."

The victory took Monaco to 35 points after 17 games. They are still nine points adrift of pacesetters Paris Saint-Germain who recovered from last week’s first league defeat of the season at Strasbourg to beat Lille 3-1 at the Parc des Princes.

Troyes remain just above the relegation zone with 18 points from their 17 matches.

“We missed out on a great chance to pull off a marvelous exploit,” said Troyes boss Jean-Louis Garcia. “At 2-0 up you think you’ve done the most important things but the goal to make it 2-1 unnerved us. But even then we should have closed up shop.

"But we lost our composure and Monaco pushed hard. It’s a shame to show our lack of maturity. We needed to show guile and wiliness. At 2-0 we needed to do those things but we didn’t and hopefully we will learn from this to help us in the second half of the season.”