UCL Preview: Monaco look to make more memories against City
As an injury-hit AS Monaco welcome Manchester City, can the Principality side stir the echoes of 2017 and get one over on the visitors? We look ahead to tomorrow's encounter at the Stade-Louis II with our Champions League match preview.
fati to feature from the off?
Much like the other Ligue 1 McDonald's side in Champions League action tomorrow, AS Monaco have started the season a level down from their best, with a frustrating loss to Lorient at the weekend and a raft of injuries, including to captain Denis Zakaria and summer signing Lucas Hradecky. Absent the two veterans -- among others -- Monaco will likely field a somewhat makeshift side, but could look to hand a first start to on-loan forward Ansu Fati.
Having started the season injured, the young Spaniard has been a revelation since returning to fitness, scoring in each of the three matches in which he's come off the bench. He's still yet to make an appearance in the starting eleven for Adi Hütter, but even with the Côte d'Azur derby this weekend, the Austrian could hand him a start in a match of this calibre, with the hope he continues to raise his level.
Despite the challenges posed by injuries, Hütter was ebullient and confident his side could compete with the best, much as they showed last season in a memorable home win over Barcelona, saying, "It's sometimes difficult to find answers to certain injuries in football. Currently, we're extremely unlucky with all the unavailability in midfield, where we've lost almost all of our players who should be in the starting XI. However, I'm not here to complain because I believe in all my players and our style of play."
Champions League is back to the Louis-II tomorrow! ❤️🤍 pic.twitter.com/IjCYIl90AN
— AS Monaco EN 🇲🇨 (@AS_Monaco_EN) September 30, 2025
Familiar faces for city
As for Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, they've had their own rocky start to the season, having picked up just ten points from their first six Premier League matches. Injuries and squad turnover have played their part, with the departures of influential veterans Kevin De Bruyne, Ederson and Kyle Walker key among them.
Guardiola will also be deprived of some key players familiar to followers of Ligue 1, including Rayan Cherki (Olympique Lyonnais), Rayan Ait-Nouri (Angers) and Abdukodir Khusanov (Lens). Two others, however -- captain and former AS Monaco midfielder Bernardo Silva and Gianluigi Donnarumma, late of Paris Saint-Germain, are expected to be in what's expected to be a very attack-minded eleven for the visitors.
predicted lineups:
AS Monaco (3-4-3): Köhn; Kehrer, Dier, Salisu; Vanderson, Teze, Coulibaly, Henrique; Akliouche, Biereth, Balogun (or Minamino)
Manchester City (4-1-4-1): Donnarumma; Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, Lewis; Gonzalez; Silva, Foden, Reijnders, Doku; Haaland
