Overview
Manchester City will travel to French Riviera to face Monaco in the UEFA Champions League. This is a match that promises to have many goals.
It has been 8 years since the last time the two teams faced each other in the round of 16 of the 2016-2019 season - Pep Guardiola's first campaign leading Man City. At that time, two dramatic matches with a total of 12 goals saw Monaco win tickets to the next round thanks to the away goal rule.
It was also the first time a Guardiola side have been knocked out of the Champions League before the quarter-finals - something he did not repeat until the 2024-2025 season against Real Madrid.
The Monaco 2016 2017 squad was once popular with the neutral world, with talents such as Kylian Mbappe, Fabinho, Thomas Lemar and Radamel Falcao, and their excellent form helping them win the Ligue 1 title. At the heart of that team is Bernardo Silva - a midfielder who later joined the Etihad in the summer of 2017.
8 years have passed, with 414 appearances and 17 titles, Silva will now return to the country as captain of Man City under Guardiola.
In contrast to that day's brilliant success, Monaco, after being left out of the squad by the "big guys" of Europe, did not win any more major titles. The current team is unlikely to repeat the strength of Silva's team in the past.
Recent form has further raised concerns for the Louis II team. Since starting the 2024-2025 Champions League with a 4-match unbeaten streak, they have won only 1 of their last 7 matches and lost five times. Notably, three of those defeats have a gap of 3 goals or more, including a recent 1-4 loss to Club Brugge.
Monaco currently owns many familiar names, including English centre-back Eric Dier. Up front, Folarin Balogun and Mika Biereth - two products of Arsenal's training center - are shouldering the task of scoring, while Ansu Fati also had an impressive start to the season.
However, the Cong Quoc team will be missing a series of important personnel. Paul Pogba has not played a single minute after 18 months of suspension and is currently in the process of regaining his fitness. In midfield, Lamina Camara could not participate.
Camara's absence was a significant loss, because although Monaco lost heavily to Club Brugge in the opening match, this player still leads in the number of cross-line passes (15), the number of recovered (10) times and the number of successful tackles4.
On the other hand, Man City often have a strong habit of starting strongly in the Champions League group stage. However, the worrying thing is that they have lost all four of their most recent away games in the competition - an unusual statistic under Guardiola.
In addition, Rodri's ability to play is still uncertain after a knee injury that ruled him out of the win over Burnley last weekend. In the opening match against Napoli, Rodri made 17 passes to break the defense - the second most of any midfielder - showing his importance that is hard to replace.
In addition, The Citizens are also likely to be without the services of Omar Marmoush, Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Abdukodir Khusanov.
Although the starting lineups of both sides are still unpredictable, one thing is almost certain - this will be a match with many goals. Statistics show that Monaco have scored and conceded in each of their last 5 matches in all competitions (12 goals, 12 goals conceded).
Meanwhile, Man City have just crushed Burnley 5-1, with Erling Haaland scoring twice, bringing his total goals to 9 goals in 7 matches since the beginning of August.
Head-to-head record
The only previous official meeting between Monaco and Man City took place in the 1/8 round of the Champions League 2016-2017. At that time, the Cong Quoc team won the right to continue thanks to the away goal rule, with a total score of 6-6 (3-3 loss at Etihad, 3-1 win at Stade Louis II).
The loss in France in March 2017 also left a memorable milestone in Guardiola's coaching career. He is at risk of losing his first two away games against the same opponent - something that had only happened twice before, when he lost to Barcelona (10.2016) and Liverpool (11.2018).
In terms of head-to-head record against English representatives at home, Monaco has been quite impressive. They have won 5, drawn 1 and lost just 1 of their 7 Champions League games. The only loss came in March 2015, when Arsenal left Stade Louis II with a 2-0 victory.
Score prediction: Monaco 2-4 Man City
The match between Monaco and Man City takes place at 2:00 am on October 2 (Vietnam time).
