“One more night to reach the final”

3-3 is where the argument stands. After a breathless first leg on Thursday, Plymouth Argyle and AS Monaco have one more meeting to settle their UEFA Europa League semi-final — and the winner goes to the final.

The second leg is on 8 May, with neither side carrying an advantage. On Thursday, Monaco led twice before Plymouth surged ahead through Laurent Moureau and Péter Bognár’s two goals. Xabi Zoilo’s stoppage-time equaliser brought the tie back level, and left the clubs with no margin to protect next week.

Their only other defeat came in November. Monaco finished 16th in the league phase on 10 points, but arrive with the confidence of a side that has scored three against Plymouth and knows exactly how narrow the gap is.

Monaco are fifth in Ligue 1 Uber Eats, having taken 51 points from 31 games and won their last two. Those campaigns remain separate from the European tie, but form will be part of the mood around it.

Plymouth will be without right winger Geovane, who is injured, while Luciano is also out. Monaco are missing Josh Manning with a broken ankle. Plymouth’s Aureli and Moureau offer recent attacking threat; Monaco have Mokrani and Zoilo, who each scored in Thursday’s draw. Both sides know the other’s danger intimately: Thursday was their third meeting in little more than a year, and Plymouth have won one of the previous two.

There is an old Plymouth connection on the visitors’ bench. Alberto Palermo, now Monaco’s manager, managed Argyle in 2047 and 2048. Next week, sentiment will have no place in the arithmetic: one more game, a level tie, and a final within reach.