Esports team fall to Monaco in eFootball Championship Pro final

Despite a courageous and strong showing, the eFootball Championship Pro title was unfortunately not destined for Munich, as the FC Bayern Esports team lost Sunday’s final to AS Monaco. The team comprising Spanish trio José Carlos Sánchez, Miguel Mestre and Alex Alguacil were a match for the eventual champions in all respects, but ultimately slipped to narrow defeats (1-0, 5-4) in two knife-edge matches.

Watch again: the final against AS Monaco

"Nuances are decisive"

"Congratulations to Monaco, both games were really close. Monaco put up a good fight," Esports coach Matthias Luttenberger told the FC Bayern Esports Twitch channel after the match. "You're in the final, playing against the best in the world, nuances are decisive. It wasn't meant to be today."

In Game 1, José Carlos Sánchez lost 1-0 to 18-year-old Frenchman Lucas Lorge after conceding a late goal in the 81st minute. In the second game of the afternoon, Miguel Mestre had the chance to force a deciding match - and came up only just short. After his opponent Rachid Tebane had taken the lead twice, the Spaniard fought his way back with a three-goal burst (38/66/74), putting his team 4-3 ahead. But in the end he was out of luck, as Tebane first equalised (80) and then scored the winner in added time (90+1). Mestre’s four goals in the final at least earned him the consolation of second place in the tournament scoring chart on 15 goals, behind only Monaco's Lorge (16).

Here’s our report on the quarter- and semi-finals: