MANCHESTER City host Ligue 1 leaders AS Monaco in the UEFA Champions League first leg at the Etihad Stadium tonight (KO 19:45).
Pep Guardiola’s City team will be looking to push on from their positive looking Premier League form on Tuesday night, despite a lack-luster 0-0 performance against Huddersfield in the FA Cup, all be it with a rotated side.
City have shown signs of going back to their early season form in recent weeks with convincing league wins against Hull City and Arsenal and will be seeing their match up with French side Monaco as a chance to continue their late push for silverware.
The team from the French Riviera’s recent form looks a lot more convincing than City’s as they are yet to lose a match in 2017 with their last league loss coming back in December against Olympique Lyonnais.
Tuesday night’s game will be the first time Manchester City and AS Monaco have ever met, demonstrating how both teams are newcomers to the big time competitions.
Despite being reasonably inexperienced in the Champions League, both sides boast incredible young talent in their ranks.
Manchester City have the obvious danger-men in their side with the likes of Sergio Agüero, Leroy Sané and Raheem Sterling expected to start the game, but will be without Brazilian wonderkid Gabriel Jesus who recently picked up an injury which will seemingly leave him on the sidelines for the rest of the season.
Perhaps unknown to English football fans, Monaco also have a very strong squad with young talents like Kylian Mbappé, Thomas Lemar, Fabinho and Bernardo Silva, mixed with the experience of ex-Manchester United front-man Radamel Falcao and midfielder João Moutinho.
Watch out @ManCity, this @AS_Monaco attack means business… ??? #UCL pic.twitter.com/tikwCADPbR
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) February 21, 2017
Despite being a bit of a laughing stock during his time at Manchester United, Falcao has notched up 21 goals in 27 competitions for Monaco, scoring two in three games in the Champions League.
Another Champions League night at a sold out Etihad Stadium will be something for fans and players to relish, but it won’t be plain sailing for City against a Monaco team that certainly haven’t travelled to England for the weather.
Writing a preview of the City-Monaco game for university work. What do you think the result will be?
— David Clarke (@david4bcn) February 21, 2017
Squads:
Manchester City: Claudio Bravo, Willy Caballero, Bacary Sagna, Pablo Zabaleta, Aleksandar Kolarov, Gaël Clichy, John Stones, Nicolas Otamendi, Fernando, Jesus Navas, Kevin De Bruyne, Fabian Delph, David Silva, Fernandinho, Yaya Touré, Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sané, Nolito, Sergio Agüero and Kelechi Iheanacho.
AS Monaco: Danijel Subasic, Morgan De Sanctis, Seydou Sy, Loïc Badiashile, Kamil Glik, Jemerson, Andre Raggi, Abdou Diallo, Benjamin Mendy, Jorge, Djibril Sidibé, Almamy Touré, Fabinho, Tiemoué Bakayoko, Kévin N’Doram, João Moutinho, Thomas Lemar, Bernardo Silva, Nabil Dirar, Radamel Falcao, Kylian Mbappé, Valère Germain and Guido Carrillo.
By David Clarke
@DavidUoS
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