Manchester City welcome Monaco to the Etihad Stadium for the first leg of their 2016/17 Champions League Round of 16 tie. This will be the first competitive meeting between the teams and one which the whole of Europe is looking forward to with great anticipation.
This is a match between two teams who failed to automatically qualify for the groups stages of the Champions League this season via their domestic league position. Manchester City entered the tournament in the playoff stage but were drawn against Steaua Bucharest, a team they were expected to defeat comfortably and that’s exactly how it turned out. Monaco started the competition in the third qualifying round and had a difficult draw against Fenerbahce but the French club overcame their Turkish opponents 4-3 on aggregate. In the playoff round, Monaco were handed an even tougher draw against Villarreal but again they came through it, winning 3-1 on aggregate to make the group stages.
Perhaps the momentum built up by Monaco in the qualifying rounds helped them top a group including Bayer Leverkusen, Tottenham Hotspur and CSKA Moscow. Not only did Monaco finish top of their Champions League group, they are also top of their domestic league in France, sitting 3 points clear of Paris Saint-Germain following a 1-1 draw at Bastia on Friday night. Monaco travel to Manchester on a twelve-match unbeaten run and with confidence very high.
Manchester City qualified for the Champions League Round of 16 by finishing second behind Barcelona in a group which also contained Borussia Monchengladbach and Celtic. Domestically, Pep Guardiola’s team sit second in the Premier League but are 8 points off the leaders and the Champions League is currently their best hope of landing a big trophy this season.
Following a tough spell in mid-January, when Manchester City lost to Everton 4-0 and were held at home by Tottenham, they have won four and drawn one of their last five matches in all competitions. The 0-0 draw at Huddersfield in the FA Cup on Saturday was a disappointing result, especially as Guardiola selected a strong team and they will now have a replay to contend with next week. At home in the Champions League Manchester City have a good record and are undefeated in their last nine games. However, they were held to a 1-1 draw by Celtic last time out, all be it with a much changed starting XI.
Monaco boast the best attacking record in Europe’s top leagues and surely getting an away goal will be on the agenda for Leonardo Jardim’s team. You must go back sixteen games to find the last time Monaco failed to score a goal and that came at Bayer Leverkusen in this competition. Since then, Monaco have been flying and have scored 42 goals, at an average of 2.8 per game.
Manchester City have kept one clean sheet at home in their last eleven games and Monaco will believe they have what it takes to trouble an uncertain Manchester City defence. The Ligue 1 club look devastating on the break and have the potential to cause Manchester City a lot of problems in this match. Do not be surprised if Monaco score a couple of goals in a high scoring draw and head back to France with a good chance of causing an upset.