Silva denies Traore a winner against Monaco
On-loan CSKA Moscow striker Lacina Traore looked set to have consigned parent club Monaco to defeat, but Bernardo Silva had other plans.
Bernardo Silva denied Lacina Traore the chance to punish his parent club by earning Monaco a late 1-1 draw in its home UEFA Champions League clash with CSKA Moscow.
Portugal international Silva found the back of the net in the 87th minute to salvage a point for Leonardo Jardim's team, which staved off defeat in its previous Group E outing against Bayer Leverkusen with a Kamil Glik goal in second-half stoppage-time.
On-loan CSKA striker Traore put his permanent owner on the path to its first defeat of the competition when he slotted home the opener in the 34th minute.
Monaco's hopes of a recovery were damaged when Joao Moutinho went off with what appeared to be a thigh injury in the first half, but Silva beat CSKA goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev late on to spare any blushes.
The goal denied Akinfeev a first clean sheet in 40 UEFA Champions League outings, a run which stretches all the way back to November 2006.
Monaco remains top of a keenly contested Group E on five points, while CSKA stays down at the bottom with two.
After a tepid start to the match, Traore spurned first chance in the 11th minute, firing over from Aleksei Ionov's right-wing cross under pressure from Danijel Subasic.
CSKA played with greater intensity and, after a tame effort from Zoran Tosic was held by Subasic, made the breakthrough after the half-hour mark.
Tosic was once again the instigator, stepping inside of Jemerson on the right-hand side of the box and curling the ball towards the far post.
Subasic got a hand to the effort, but it fell straight to Traore, who took a touch before slotting home the goal he would have been desperately craving.
Despite having to replace Moutinho with Guido Carrillo in the 41st minute, Monaco was spurred into life and could have been level by half-time.
A corner from the left fell kindly for Andrea Raggi 12 yards out, but the right-back lashed his shot straight at Akinfeev.
Monaco controlled possession after the restart, but struggled to find a route through CSKA's well-disciplined defensive lines.
Tiemoue Bakayoko fired over from 25 yards before Valere Germain saw his attempt to turn Thomas Lemar's left-wing cross on target deflected wide by Vasili Berezutski in the 68th minute.
Benjamin Mendy replaced Raggi, but just like the Italian he was thwarted by Akinfeev, the Russian denying him from an acute angle with 18 minutes remaining.
The equaliser finally came just three minutes from time, Silva reacting first to pounce on the loose ball and calmly steer into the net after Akinfeev had denied Carrillo.
