Paris Brunner made sure Monaco’s trip to Sofia counted. He scored in the third minute and set up Ansu Fati in the 43rd as AS Monaco beat CSKA Sofia 2-1 away in the Conference League, a result that gave the French side an important European win and put Brunner back at the center of their attack.
What made the night stand out was that Brunner did it while still serving a suspension that will keep him out of Monaco’s Ligue 1 match against Lorient next weekend. The forward is on the second game of a two-match ban after a celebration that the league judged to be excessive, with a further two-match punishment suspended. In Sofia on Thursday, Brunner said he regrets what he did and will learn from it for the future.
The punishment traces back to mid-September, when Brunner marked a goal in a 1-1 draw against Racing Strasbourg with a head-off gesture toward opposing fans. After that match, he said the moment had been misunderstood and that his intention was only to celebrate the goal. The league did not see it that way. It suspended him for two matches, leaving Monaco to manage without him domestically even as he keeps delivering in Europe.
That contrast is hard to miss. Filipe Luis called Brunner “in fantastic form” after the win, and the numbers back it up: seven goals and one assist in eight competitive appearances this season. Brunner came through Borussia Dortmund’s youth system, and the club sold him to Monaco for four million euros in 2024 after he could not agree a new contract. Monaco first sent him to Cercle Brugge for a season that proved unsuccessful, but he has since turned into a far more decisive figure.
There is also a wider career thread running through the story. A Foot-Mercato report said Borussia Dortmund kept a matching right when they sold Brunner, meaning they can match an offer from another club and bring him back. His market value has already risen to 15 million euros, a sign of how quickly his season has changed the picture around him. For Monaco, the immediate issue is simpler: they have Brunner in form, but not available for Lorient. How long they can keep leaning on his output in Europe while he sits out domestic matches is the question that now hangs over the next few weeks.
