Manchester City vs. Monaco | The Preview

Manchester City are to host the leaders in The French Ligue 1 – Monaco tonight! The Citizens are the favourites in the game, but the visitors have always been successful against teams from England in the European club tournaments.

The Josep Guardiola’s team reached the semi-finals of the competition just a year ago, so being knocked out of the Champions League before that stage will mean a big failure for The Citizens. Sergio Aguero will be among the starting lineup, as Gabriel Jesus has received an injury. Vincent Kompany is the other sidelined player for Manchester City. The title in The Premier League seems like a mirage for Manchester City, so the Guardiola’s players will focus on their performance in The Champions League.

In comparison, Monaco have had an amazing campaign so far. The Monegasques are lying in the first position of the French Ligue 1, having scored 76 goals in just 26 matches! Moreover, the last time Monaco lost an official game was on 18th December 2016, when they were defeated by Lyon.

This will be the first ever match between these two teams. However, Monaco have been really successful against the English teams. The Monegasques have already beaten Tottenham in the group stage this season. Furthermore, the French team has knocked out of the competition Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Newcastle.

On the other hand, Josep Guardiola, as a coach, has never been eliminated from the competition at the stage of the Round of 16. The game, for sure, will be very interesting and will be decided in the second leg!

The Facts:

The last time Monaco reached the quarterfinal of The Champions League was in 2015, when the team eliminated Arsenal in the Round of 16.

Manchester City are on a run of 9 consecutive games without a defeat in The Champions League at The Etihad Stadium.

The average age of the Manchester City’s squad is 26.5, while Monaco’s is 23.9. There are 13 players under the age of 21 in the French team, while those in Man City’s squad are 8.

Both teams have only missed to score once in The Champions League this campaign. So, the expectations are for “both teams to score” as an outcome.