Manchester City v Monaco Preview

By: Timothy Dehinbo

Manchester City FC have the reason to prepare and be wary when they host French team, AS Monaco who have a fine record in knockout ties against English teams, in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie on Tuesday evening encounter.

Monaco reached the knockout stage as winners of Group E, while City qualified as Group C runners-up behind FC Barcelona.

City are looking to make the quarter- finals for the second time in their history, following last term’s groundbreaking run to the semi finals. They are unbeaten  at home in 9 matches in the UEFA Champions League (W6 D3).

City overcame Paris Saint-Germain in last season’s quarter-finals, Kevin De Bruyne scoring in both legs as they drew 2-2 in France before a 1-0 victory back in Manchester.

Pep Guardiola won all seven previous round of 16 ties as a coach with Barcelona and FC Bayern München.
For Monaco, they are seeking a second UEFA Champions League quarter-final appearance in three seasons, having last competed in the last eight in 2015 after beating Arsenal FC on away goals in the round of 16 ( 3-1 A, 0-2 H).

They have already won on English soil once this term, defeating Tottenham Hotspur FC 2-1 at Wembley Stadium in their group opener, with Bernardo Silva and Thomas Lemar scoring. Lemar struck again when they beat Tottenham 2-1 at home on 22 November. Monaco’s away record against English league clubs is W4 D2 L2.

They have won all but one of their five previous two-legged ties against teams from England, including UEFA Champions League successes against Manchester United FC (1997/98 quarter-final), Chelsea FC (2003/04 semi-final) and Arsenal FC (2014/15 round of 16.)

Manchester city’s Raheem Sterling is a booking away from a ban. Manchester City have won their last four fixtures in all competitions before Saturday’s FA Cup draw at Huddersfield Town AFC.

Ahead of this game, Pep Guardiola said: “All of Europe is going to watch us, to analyse us, to kill us if we don’t win, to say how good we are when we win and that experience is beautiful to me. I am really impressed [with Monaco].

They are physically strong, the full-backs play like wingers, the wingers play like attacking midfielders and the strikers are fighters and in the box they are killers.
They don’t need too many chances to score goals. A complete team, the most successful team in Europe in terms of scoring goals”

Monaco’s Kamil Glik will incur a suspension with his next booking, while Jemerson serves a one-match ban. Monaco have won 11 of their 15 games in all competitions since matchday six, losing once 3-1 at home to Olympique Lyonnais on 18 December. Jardim’s men will play Paris in the French League Cup final on 1 April.

Monaco have also made progress in the French Cup, where they will meet Olympique de Marseille on 1 March in the last 16, having beaten AC Ajaccio (2-1) and third-tier FC Chambly (5-4 AET) in 2017.

Monaco have scored four goals or more in a match on 11 occasions this season. Falcao has scored 13 goals in his last 14 appearances in all competitions. Kylian Mbappé, 18, has registered two hat-tricks since the beginning of December, his most recent treble coming in a 5-0 defeat of FC Metz on 11 February.

Coach Leonardo Jardim ahead of the match, said “We have changed a lot of players over the last three seasons and we’re back in the last 16 again. That’s great because it shows that despite all the changes we’re still able to play at the top level.

“We have only two or three players left from the team that took on Arsenal a couple of years ago. This is our 11th game, taking into account qualifying matches, and we always try to play the same way. These two teams love to play football and have technical players.

“The two coaching staffs work well. But in other aspects we cannot compare, such as in the respective transfer budgets,” he said

This game should end in a draw.

PREDICTION: MANCHESTER CITY 2-2 MONACO