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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 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