Monaco thump City in an epic comeback

The Champions league round of 16 was held in Nyon the 12th December last year. Finishing second in group C, Manchester City was to face one of the group winners. Pep Guardiola was surely very happy about the draw result. The Citizens would face the French club AS Monaco FC avoiding bigger clubs such as Barcelona and Juventus. With his experience of the European competitions, the expectations from Pep leading Manchester City to the Champions league glory this season were quite high. 

Monaco, on the other hand, had lots of ups and downs in the last 15 years from their last appearance in Champions league finals in the 2003-04 season. They got relegated to Ligue 2 six years later. The club's fortune changed when Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev bought the majority of the club in 2011. Just two years later, Monaco earned their promotion back to Ligue 1 with Claudio Ranieri as their new manager. In 2013, Monaco spent roughly £140 million on the transfer market to strengthen their squad (including the transfer of Radamel Falcao from Atletico). However, there were not many high expectations from the team due to their inconsistency and considering the amount of money pumped into Manchester City squad after they were bought by Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008.

So when Manchester City faced Monaco, the British club should have an easy ride to the quarterfinals. Monaco lead by their manager Leonardo Jardim caught City by surprise in the first leg in Manchester three weeks ago, leading the game 2-1 going into the second half. Aguero stole the show in second half to hit two goals in City`s 5-3 victory. Despite losing the first leg, Monaco had managed to score 3 precious away goals coming to the second leg at home.

Monaco won by away goals (3-1; 6-6 aggregate) to seal Q/F berth ©Getty Images

Stade Louis II packed with 18000 spectators for the second leg between AS Monaco and Manchester City. Pep Guardiola`s 100th UEFA game as a coach started very poorly. Monaco started off attacking and dominate the first few minutes of the match while the Manchester City club is found short of ideas to counter the Monaco attack. Young French striker Kylian Mbappè scored only eight minutes in the first half and Brazilian midfielder Fabinho hit one in the back of the net 20 minutes later. With the scoreline reading 2-0, Monaco was pushing hard to qualify for the quarterfinals. 

City managed finally countered and got some control over the game in the second half, and it was only a matter of time when the Citizens would score. Leroy Sanè raised City`s hopes scoring the first goal of the match for City in the 71st minute, but Monaco showed immense determination to win the game as Tiemouè Bakayoko`s header from a free kick six minutes later sealed the match for Monaco ensuring a berth in the quarterfinals with the final score of 3-1 hence winning by away goals (6-6 aggregate, Monaco wins by 3 away goals to 1 by Manchester City). The quickness and hard attacking approach from Monaco`s team were too much to handle for Manchester City that has a squad with the average age of 28.5 years. 

Regardless of the ridiculous amounts of money Manchester City has spent over the past ten years, they still haven't found success in the European competitions, at least not this year. 

Monaco under the leadership of Leonardo Jardim's attacking style of football has resulted in over 80 goals for the team this season. Most players in Monaco`s squad have been given quite free roles, making it very difficult to defend against this team. Both wingbacks make long runs to support the attacks, and attacking almost with the whole squad, giving them numerous alternatives on how to finish the attack. Pep Guardiola´s Manchester City did not manage to mark the Monègasues properly, therefore, giving them a lot of time and space with the ball to control the game and knock out the Citizens. I believe Monaco should be taken seriously in this competition, with the firepower of this team they can easily knock out any of the seven remaining possible opponents in the quarterfinals.

Monaco under Leonardo Jardim has been the dark horse of the season and looking at their form it should be no surprise if they manage to go all the way to the final.