Monaco-Real Madrid: a shared history

AS Monaco and Real Madrid face off in the Champions League for just the third time on Tuesday. Whilst the pair have not often shared the pitch, they have shared plenty of players.

Morientes makes his parent club pay

These two teams did, of course, share a classic two-legged encounter back in the 2003/04 season. They met in the quarter finals of the UCL, and whilst the Principality club lost the first leg at the Bernanéu 4-2, they would roar back at the Stade Louis II, beating the La Liga giants 3-1 and progressing to the semi-finals on goal difference. Monaco would go all the way to the final that year, before coming up short in the final.

One of the protagonists of that two-legged tie back in 2004 was Fernando Morientes, who, incredibly, was on loan from Los Blancos at the time. Morientes joined Real Madrid back in 1997 and would make 240 appearances for the club, scoring 89 goals in that time.

¡Choque de Clubes Señores! 🙌

Nos vemos este martes, @realmadrid 🤝#UCL pic.twitter.com/mobEjiigqi
— AS Monaco ES 🇲🇨 (@AS_Monaco_ES) January 19, 2026

But he would join Les Monégasques on loan in 2003. He would make 40 appearances, scoring 19 goals, including two against his parent club. His move to the Ligue 1 McDonald's giants was not made permanent, and he instead joined Liverpool on a free transfer that summer, but he certainly made his mark in the Principality.

Morientes is one of 12 players to have played for Monaco and Real Madrid. Of those 12, there are those that maybe had a more discrete impact. That applies to Gary Kagelmacher, who played just one game for Real Madrid, back in 2008, before then joining Monaco in 2011 and aiding their promotion campaign.

Two former Monégasques part of Real Madrid's current crop

Others made a more memorable contribution. James Rodriguez, for example, was exceptional during his only season at Monaco (2013/14 season). He would then light up the 2014 World Cup with Colombia, earning a move to the Spanish capital. Whilst the playmaker did not live up to expectations, he did nonetheless make 121 appearances for Los Blancos across a five-year period (2014-2019). He would score 36 goals and register 35 assists in that time.

Ricardo Carvalho featured prominently for both clubs, playing 62 times for Real Madrid between 2010 and 2012 and then 106 times for Monaco from 2013 until 2015. Fabinho, meanwhile, did not feature prominently during his one season at Real Madrid, but when he made the move to Monaco in 2013, he changed dimension, moving from right-back into midfield and changing his entire career trajectory.

There are two current Blancos who play for Real Madrid: Kylian Mbappé and Aurélien Tchouaméni. The former, the France captain, made his breakthrough, graduating from the Principality club's academy before going on to play for PSG. He already has an exceptional record at Real Madrid, having scored 73 goals in 84 games since joining on a free transfer in the summer of 2024.

Mbappé remains Monaco's record sale. The second biggest fee that Les Monégasques received was for Tchouaméni, when he joined Real Madrid from Monaco in the summer of 2022. He is a mainstay in the Real team, as well as in the France set-up. He has already featured 172 times for the Spanish side.

List of players to have played for Real Madrid and Monaco

Emmanuel Adebayor
Ricardo Carvalho
Fabio Coentrao
Mahamadou Diarra
Fabinho
Gary Kagelmacher
Kylian Mbappé
Fernando Morientes
Christian Panucci
James Rodriguez
Javier Saviola
Aurélien Tchouaméni

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