Monaco 84-98 Barça: A win and a smile

The star of the show in the principality of Monaco on Thursday evening was FC Barcelona's Dario Brizuela with 27 points as he led the blaugranes to a 98-84 victory against the Euroleague leaders. 

Bright start 

In the early minutes Barça took advantage of a poor start by the home side to race into a 15-6 lead with Fall dominating the boards. Monaco awoke from the slumber and came back at the blaugranes to cut the lead to one point at 18-17 before Barça accelerated again to take a 25-17 lead into the second quarter. 

Slump before break 

Brizuela came into his own in the second period, helping Barça to a 13 point lead at one point at 36-23. However, Monaco refused to give up and a run of 10 unanswered points for the home side saw them back in it just four points down at 45-41 at half time. 

In the third quarter Monaco drew level at 49-49, then took the lead for the first time in the game at 57-54. It began to look ominous for the visitors but Peñarroya's team showed great character to fight back to take a 66-60 lead into the final period. 

Brizuela comes into his own 

Brizuela took control of proceedings in the fourth quarter, inspiring Barça to a 83-65 lead, their biggest of the game. Monaco threatened a comeback but Brizuela stamped his authority on the encounter to guid the blaurganes to a 14 point lead and a final score of 98-84. 

Barça now face a run of away games, beginning with a match at Gran Canaria on Sunday in the league at 1pm CET. 

MATCH STATS

MOnaco, 84
Barça, 98

Monaco: Loyd (7), Calathes (8), James (23), Brown (2) and Motiejunas (2) -starting five- Papagiannis (10), Strazel (15), Blossomgame (9), Okobo (4), Tarpey (-) and Jaiteh (4)
Barça: Punter (14), Satoransky (3), Anderson (8), Parker (12) and Fall (6) -starting five- Núñez (4), Brizuela (27), Metu (13), Parra (-) and Abrines (11)

Àrbitres: Ilija Belosevic, Milos Koljensic i Luka Kardum