The Stats Zone
September 18 2024, 17:52 · Alex Lawes

Monaco vs Barcelona Preview & Prediction | 2024-25 UEFA Champions League | League Phase

Monaco vs Barcelona Preview & Prediction | 2024-25 UEFA Champions League | League Phase
Post Share

Click here for today’s sports betting tips from our expert analysts!

These two faced off in the Joan Gamper Trophy in Catalonia before the season started with Monaco hammering Barcelona by three goals to nil but Barcelona have been much-improved since the season properly began and this is a fascinating encounter.

KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Thursday 19th September, 2024 - UK – 8:00pm / US ET – 3:00pm / US PT – 12:00pm

HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – TNT Sports or Discovery+ / US – Paramount+ or Amazon Prime or UniMas or TUDN or Fubo or DirecTV Stream or ViX

MONACO PREVIEW: ENTERTAINING MONAGASQUE

Under the management of former Borussia Monchengladbach coach Adi Hutter, Monaco play some of the most entertaining football in France’s top-flight and finished runners’ up in Ligue 1 last season. After another summer of smart recruitment, the hosts have enjoyed a positive start to the campaign, too.

Monaco hammered Barca in the Joan Gamper Trophy and then began their Ligue 1 campaign with back-to-back victories before being held to a 1-1 draw against Lens before the September international break. They returned from the break with a 3-0 hammering of newly-promoted Auxerre at the weekend.

BARCELONA PREVIEW: BARCA ON THE RISE

Hansi Flick replaced Xavi Hernandez in the Barcelona dugout over the summer and the former Bayern Munich and Germany boss has experienced an extremely positive start to life in charge of the Blaugrana. Barcelona have begun the 2024/25 La Liga season with five victories out of five.

Barca began with edgy victories against Valencia, Athletic Club and Rayo Vallecano before then demolishing Real Valladolid by seven goals to nil a couple of weeks ago. They then returned from the international break with another comfortable victory as they hammered Girona in a Catalan derby by four goals to one the other day.

MONACO TEAM NEWS: ON THE FRONT FOOT

One of those aforementioned smart signings, Lamine Camara who arrived from Metz over the summer, is a major doubt for this week due to a head injury for this one.

The hosts have an excellent abundance of attacking riches and are expected to field the likes of Aleksandr Golovin and Eliesse Ben Seghir in behind Breel Embolo.

PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Kohn; Vanderson, Kehrer, Salisu, Ouattara; Zakaria, Magassa; Akliouche, Golovin, Ben Seghir; Embolo

UNAVAILABLE: Majecki (Injured)

QUESTIONABLE: Camara (Injured)

BARCELONA TEAM NEWS: SEVERAL ISSUES

After beginning the season with Marc Bernal performing well in midfield, the La Masia graduate is out for the foreseeable future with an ACL injury he sustained against Rayo.

Uruguayan international defender Ronald Araujo is out injured, too, but even if he was fit to play then he wouldn’t be involved as he has a suspension that has carried over from last season.

PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Ter Stegen; Kounde, Pau Cubarsi, Inigo Martinez, Alex Balde; Marc Casado, Pedri; Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski

UNAVAILABLE: Ronald Araujo (Suspended), Christensen (Injured), Marc Bernal (Injured), De Jong (Injured), Gavi (Injured)

QUESTIONABLE: Fermin Lopez (Injured), Dani Olmo (Injured), Ansu Fati (Injured)

KEY STATS

  • Monaco have won seven of their last nine UEFA competition matches at home against Spanish teams (D1 L1).
  • Monaco are without a win in their last 14 matches in the UEFA Champions League competition proper (D3 L11). Since a 3-1 home victory against Dortmund in the 2016/17 quarter-finals in April 2017.
  • Monaco’s last appearance in the UEFA Champions League proper was in the 2018/19 group stage.
  • Monaco are unbeaten in their last eight competitive matches at home (W5 D3).
  • Barcelona won the only previous two meetings between these two teams in UEFA competition – both in the UEFA Champions League group stage in 1993/94 (2-0 home, 1-0 away).
  • Barcelona have lost only two of their last ten UEFA competition matches away from home against French teams (W3 D5).
  • Barcelona have lost on Matchday 1 in only two of their previous 28 UEFA Champions League participations (W20 D6).
  • Barcelona scored five goals on Matchday 1 in the UEFA Champions League in each of the last two seasons (5-1 vs Viktoria Plzeň at home in 2022/23 and 5-0 vs Antwerp at home in 2023/24).
  • The only time Barcelona have lost away from home in a UEFA Champions League Matchday 1 fixture was against Newcastle in September 1997 (L 3-2).
  • Barcelona have only failed to score in one of their last 13 UEFA competition matches.
  • This is Barcelona’s 350th match in European Cup/UEFA Champions League history – only Real Madrid and Bayern have reached this landmark previously.

MONACO VS BARCELONA PREDICTION

These have been two of the most interesting sides at the start of this European football season. Monaco have shown they have the capabilities to get at Barcelona but this is already a very different Barcelona side to the one that was dispatched by the French side last month. It has the potential to be quite an entertaining encounter in which both teams scoring seems a good bet but Barca remain favourites.

MONACO VS BARCELONA TIP: BARCELONA TO WIN & BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE