**_By Alessandro Schiavone at Stade Louis II, Montecarlo_**
Mikel Arteta must have tapped himself on the shoulder in self-congratulatory mode and shouted "Muy bien, Mikel' to himself if he happened to watch Folarin Balogun's avalanche of missed chances against Galatasaray from his Brugge hotel yesterday night.
Watching the scoreboard should not be deceive anyone here.
Balogun may have displayed his more opportunistic and lethal side when he pounced on a loose ball to give AS Monaco a precious 1-0 win over the Turks.
But his two missed sitters will not earn him top marks by Capital Football today.
In what looked like a flip-of-the-coin type of the game before kick-off, the American international spurned three chances either side of half-time.
And clear-cut ones at that that could have cost manager Sebastien Pocognoli his job had he not redeemed himself with a scrappy winner in the 68th minute as the vivacious monégasques threw the kitchen's sink at it.
In the first period he headed over despite having two-thirds of Cakir's gaping goal to aim following Salisu's excellent flick-on.
As the years ticked on, since cashing in on him despite starring for Reims in Ligue 1 in 2022/23, it's become increasingly evident that the club might the right call
The Gunners academy graduate was perhaps a bit undercooked to feature for the Premier League supremos.
His disasterclass was preceded by Chelsea flop Denis Zakaria having his penalty saves by Turkey international Cakir after Spurs one-time Davinson Sanchez tripped former Reds Minamino in the box.
As the game wore on, Monaco upped their tempo and MOTM Japanese served up a treat for Balogun which he stabbed wide to the fury of the outnumbered Monaco fans in the stands.
It was probably harder to miss than to score that one. And he did not do much better when through on goal he fired over.
He was not the only player to not have covered himself in glory in Montecarlo yesterday as Galatasaray's Ilkay Gündogan and Monaco starlet Lamine Camara equally flopped in front of goal.
Maverick and serial Chelsea transfer target Victor Osimhen had a few shots blocked here during the visitors period of dominance in the first half-hour.
But unlike them all, Balogun redeemed himself with a lucky goal to go from zero to... hero.
Not sure he knew much about it.
Yet nobody in the principality will give a damn about it today with the club now being in a much healthy position level with Galatasaray in 17th with two games against Real Madrid and Juve to play.
Asked about Balogun's cinderella game, goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky told Capital Football: "He kept on pushing, he kept on doing the work.
"I know it's frustrating as a striker if you don't score every chance you have.
"But he was there when we needed him,