Radamel Falcao doesn't make the impression he will have hoped in his first outing for Monaco

£53m striker is booked for a series of rash challenges and hauled off by manager Claudio Ranieri at half-time after he kicks the ball into the crowd

Falcao in action for his new club AS Monaco (GETTY IMAGES)

Radamel Falcao made his first appearance for his new team Monaco, but any dreams he had of an impressive start soon turned to nightmares as he was booked for a number of bad tackles, before being hauled off at half-time after kicking the ball into the crowd and confronting a number of Ausburg players.

The Colombian striker, who made the surprise move to the recently promoted club, looked a little frustrated at times during his first outing against the Bundesliga outfit.

It wasn’t his usual goal-scoring prowess that got him into the headlines though, but his fierce tackles in what was no more than a pre-season friendly.

Manager Claudio Ranieri withdrew the 27-year-old after 45 minutes, though this is a common practice during pre-season with the preference to give as many of the squad as much playing time as possible.

Having left Atletico Madrid this summer after scoring 52 league goals in two seasons at the Vicente Calderon Stadium, Falcao has already set his sights on challenging Paris Saint-Germain for the Ligue 1 title.

He said last month: “I understand that this could have come as a surprise. It's a pity there's no European Cup, but that's how it is. But the aim is to win the title so that we can play in the Champions League next year.

“We have other motivations than Europe this season, we want to win all the competitions we're in and that's already enough.

“Many people may believe that this is a mistake, but I'm sure they will change their opinion once we have won titles.”

Monaco won the French second division title last year and have gone about signing the big names that they believe will take them to back-to-back titles.

Falcao has been joined at the club by Eric Abidal, Ricardo Carvalho, Jeremy Toulalan, James Rodriguez and Joao Moutinho  to name a few, and with the bankrolling power of Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, the spending can be expected to continue for a few years yet.