Barcelona are aiming to continue their perfect record under Hansi Flick when they begin their Champions League campaign at AS Monaco on Thursday evening.
The new manager of the Catalan giants hasn’t tasted defeat since losing to Monaco 3-0 in pre-season, winning all five of Barcelona’s La Liga games. After three successive 2-1 victories to kick off the season, La Blaugrana have since upped their game with 7-0 and 4-1 wins over Real Valladolid and Girona respectively.
Barcelona’s Champions League quarter-final exit at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain was ultimately Xavi’s undoing as the club’s coach and Flick – who won the competition in 2019/20 with Bayern Munich – will be aiming to improve upon his predecessor’s performances.
Monaco haven’t even reached the Champions League since 2018/19 and are a far cry from the side that made it all the way to the final in 2003/04. They’re also some distance off the star-studded team that reached the semi-final in 2016/17 and they will have their work cut out to make it to this season’s knockout stage.
Here is 90min’s guide to Barcelona’s clash with Monaco.
Location: Fontvieille, Monaco
Stadium: Stade Louis II
Date: Thursday 19 September
Kick-off Time: 20:00 BST / 15:00 ET / 12:00 PT
Referee: Allard Lindhout (NET)
VAR: Johan Higler (NET)
Monaco vs Barcelona H2H Record (All Time)
Current form (all competitions)
|
Monaco |
Barcelona |
|---|---|
|
Auxerre 0-3 Monaco – 14/09/24 |
Girona 1-4 Barcelona – 15/09/24 |
|
Monaco 1-1 Lens – 01/09/24 |
Barcelona 7-0 Real Valladolid – 31/08/24 |
|
Lyon 0-2 Monaco – 24/08/24 |
Rayo Vallecano 1-2 Barcelona – 27/08/24 |
|
Monaco 1-0 Saint-Etienne – 17/08/24 |
Barcelona 2-1 Athletic Club – 24/08/24 |
|
Barcelona 0-3 Monaco – 10/08/24 |
Valencia 1-2 Barcelona – 17/08/24 |
|
Country |
TV channel/live stream |
|---|---|
|
United Kingdom |
TNT Sports 2, discovery+, discovery+ App |
|
United States |
Paramount+, fuboTV, ViX, UniMas, Univision NOW, TUDN USA, TUDN App, TUDN.com |
|
Canada |
DAZN |
Monaco’s only confirmed absentees for Thursday’s clash are Edan Diop and Radoslaw Majecki, with Lamine Camara having been cleared to return to training despite undergoing concussion tests following the 3-0 weekend win over Auxerre.
The midfielder, who has impressed since a summer move from Metz, should return to Adi Hutter’s starting lineup, with the in-form Denis Zakaria likely to partner him in the engine room.
There may be a return to the starting XI for former Liverpool attacking midfielder Takumi Minamino, while Breel Embolo should lead the…
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