GUGLIELMO VICARIO has had his fair share of stick this season – but this was a night when he came up trumps for Tottenham.
The Italian goalkeeper was conceding goals he simply should be stopping in the Prem recently.
But in the strange surroundings of the Stade Louis II, which has large sections of empty seats at both ends of the ground, he stood tall in the absence of captain Cristian Romero.
Three days after being left bamboozled by Morgan Rogers‘ long-range equaliser in the Aston Villa defeat, Vicario put in the type of performance that saw him become such a favourite with fans when he first signed for Spurs.
And Vicario’s heroics were badly needed because Tottenham were not at the races – and not for the first time of late since their promising start under Thomas Frank.
We might have expected a strange night from the moment Archie Gray’s selection left the majority confused as to what formation had been deployed.
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He eventually started at left-back.
But nothing felt right all evening for the visitors and things did not improve despite plenty of fresh legs in the shape of five subsitutions.
Maghnes Akliouche, who needs no introduction to Spurs fans or boss Frank following their summer interest, looks a classy operator and was pulling the strings for Monaco.
Fortunately, former Arsenal striker Folarin Balogun produced the type of finishing which explains why he was shipped out of North London.
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After Ansu Fati, once a Brighton loanee, fluffed his lines when given the freedom of Monaco, the first of three clear-cut first-half chances saw USA international Balogun denied by Vicario’s body, albeit from a tight angle.
But he should have put the Ligue 1 club ahead on two occasions after that.
Having been expertly sent clear through by the brilliant Akliouche, Vicario’s legs kept him out.
Balogun was losing his personal battle with Tottenham’s goalkeeper, but you could not knock his persistence.
And he was back for more eight minutes before the break.
Lucas Bergvall, back in the side for the first time since Spurs’ last European outing, was robbed and Balogun sent a curling shot towards the bottom corner.
You guessed it, Vicario was there again, this time with a diving stop.
All that Tottenham had to show for their first-half efforts were a couple of Kevin Danso headers and one glanced effort which Micky van de Ven sent over the crossbar.
Wilson Odobert, getting his first proper run as a Spurs player, was a livewire down the left, but nothing more than that.
It felt like a matter of time for Monaco.
The fact that the biggest cheer from the travelling fans came when former defender Eric Dier, missing through injury, walked past the away end at the break, summed up how bad they were.
Not even the introduction of Tottenham’s very own SAS – Pape Matar Sarr and Xavi Simons – could swing things their way.
The man of the match award was a foregone conclusion by the time Vicario flung across to keep out Aleksandr Golovin on 68 minutes.
Thilo Kehrer, who once scored an own goal against Tottenham for West Ham in 2022, also glanced wide.
Then Vicario saved the absolute best until last. He made a stunning reaction from Jordan Teze’s point-blank range header before those in front of him scrambled clear.
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Spurs had not laid a glove on Monaco all night until substitute Brennan Johnson could have produced the smash-and-grab of all smash-and-grabs, but his time effort was blocked.
They somehow escaped with a decent point despite this truly awful display, and remain unbeaten in the Champions League – but only just.
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