Monaco 5-1 Red Star Belgrade: Minamino brace helps hosts thrash Serbian side

Monaco thrashed Red Star Belgrade 5-1 at home on Tuesday to move onto seven points after three matches in the Champions League.

Japan international Takumi Minamino was the pick of the performers, having finished the match with a brace and an assist.

Breel Embolo, Wilfried Songo and Maghnes Akliouche were the others who found the net in a one-sided victory at Stade Louis-II.

Minamino opened the scoring after 20 minutes, having broken the offside trap, but that was cancelled out by Cherif Ndiaye’s penalty seven minutes later. The Senegal international had been brought down in the box by Thilo Kehrer and got back up to score the equaliser.

The Serbian side kept Monaco at bay for much of the rest of the first half, until Breel Embolo restored their lead in first-half stoppage time. After the break, this was all about the home team.

Singo hit a wonderful long-range strike to make it 3-1 nine minutes into the half before Minamino got his second 20 minutes from the end. Akliouche then finished things off with an effort that went in off the post in the final action of the match.

Red Star were, in truth, lucky to escape with just the four-goal defeat, having offered up plenty of opportunities to their hosts.

The result left them bottom of the Champions League table with zero points from three matches. Up next for them is Barcelona at home, while Monaco face a trip to Bologna.