The new French Ligue 1 season commences on Friday night with the curtain-raiser to the new term being a clash between Monaco and Nantes at the Stade Louis II, with Monaco no doubt looking to build upon their midweek success in Europe.
Monaco registered what could prove to be an extremely valuable 2-0 win away from home in the 1st leg of their 3rd qualifying round tie at Czech Republic outfit, Sparta Prague, on Tuesday night and they’ll be hoping they can utilise their momentum for their domestic season-opener against Nantes.
𝑴𝑽𝑷 @atchouameni 👏#SpartaASM | #RoadToChampions— AS Monaco 🇲🇨 (@AS_Monaco) August 4, 2021
𝑴𝑽𝑷 @atchouameni 👏#SpartaASM | #RoadToChampions
The hosts lost just one of their five pre-season friendlies and they also have competitive match-play fitness under their belts, albeit one game but this may prove crucial in the latter stages of their encounter on Friday night.
On the domestic front, Monaco finished last season’s Ligue 1 campaign in strong fashion as the hosts suffered just one defeat from their final 10 matches of the season overall, while also losing just once in their last 11 games at their Stade Louis II.
Indeed, Monaco lost just twice at home throughout the whole of last season’s Ligue 1 campaign and they’ve also won the previous six meetings on the trot against Nantes as well.
Onto Nantes, and the visitors secured their Ligue 1 status by the skin of their teeth at the end of last season as they finished in a disappointing third from bottom position in the French top flight which meant a nerve-wracking relegation/promotion play-off tie against Ligue 2 side, Toulouse.
The two-legged play-off ended in a 2-2 draw on aggregate with Nantes scraping through by virtue of the away-goals rule following their 2-1 win away from home in the 1st leg.
Nevertheless, Nantes produced a disappointing campaign last season and the hard work begins straight away on Friday night as they face a tough trip to face a solid Monaco outfit on home soil.
Unlike their hosts, Nantes have also had to endure a disappointing pre-season as the visitors have lost four of their six warm-up games and although they won four of their last five games towards the end of last season, this looks like being a tough task at Monaco.
Monaco have held the upper hand in previous exchanges and the hosts should come out on top again on Friday night.