Monaco vs Barcelona, Champions League: Team News, Match Preview

AS Monaco vs FC Barcelona

Competition/Round: 2024-25 UEFA Champions League, League Phase, Matchday 1

Barcelona Outs & Doubts: Ronald Araujo, Gavi, Andreas Christensen, Fermín López, Dani Olmo, Frenkie de Jong, Marc Bernal (out)

Monaco Outs & Doubts: Radoslaw Majecski, Mohamed Camara (doubt)

Date/Time: Thursday, September 19, 2024, 9pm CET (Barcelona), 8pm BST/WAT (UK & Nigeria), 3pm ET, 12pm PT (USA), 12.30am IST (India, Friday)

Venue: Stade Louis II, Monaco, France

Referee: Allard Lindhout (NED)

VAR: Dennis Higler (NED)

How to watch on TV: TUDN (USA), TNT Sports 2 (UK), SONY TEN 1 (India), SuperSport (Nigeria), Movistar (Spain), others

How to watch online: Paramount+ (USA), discovery+ (UK), Movistar+ (Spain), others

Following a dominant win in the Catalan derby against Girona at the weekend, Barcelona begin a new European journey as they travel to the Principality of Monaco in France for their first game in the Champions League’s new format against AS Monaco at the Stade Louis II on Thursday night.

Europe’s top club competition has a new League Phase and will feature games on Thursday nights now, and Barça will be one of the first few teams to experience the change in format and calendar at the same time in Matchday 1.

The old group stage is gone, which means Barça will meet Monaco only once in the initial phase. That gives the Blaugrana just one chance to avenge their worst game under Hansi Flick yet, a 3-0 defeat in the Joan Gamper Trophy that remains the only low point since the German took charge.

Even though it was the last game of preseason just a few days after a long and exhausting trip back from the United States tour, it still featured a lot of things that made Barça fans frustrated with previous versions of the team: slow, unimaginative passing, non-existent pressing without the ball, terrible organization at the back and a general apathy that bored everyone, from players to fans.

Thankfully the first five official matches that followed that Gamper defeat were the complete opposite, and gave us five exciting wins and a version of Barça that we haven’t seen since literally the last time they won the Champions League a whole decade ago. Flick’s team is hungry, intense, well-organized, high-scoring and unpredictable, a mark of Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique’s sides during the period when Barça ruled both Spain and Europe.

Now Barça meet Monaco again five weeks later, which a chance to prove once and for all that the Gamper loss was simply the result of tired legs from the long trip to America and a few individual mistakes we haven’t seen in any of the competitive games. The attack also looks a lot different than it did that night, but the Catalans will face a Monaco defense that’s conceded just once in their first four Ligue 1 games and is very well-coached by Adi Hütter.

Monaco are legitimately good, but Barça are much better than they were the last time these teams met. It’s a chance for the Blaugrana to get some revenge, get off to a good start in a new League Phase format that should have a very tight race for the coveted Top 8 positions, and continue their amazing start to the season to keep all vibes immaculate.

Let’s dance.

POSSIBLE LINEUPS

Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Ter Stegen; Kounde, Cubarsí, Iñigo, Balde; Casadó, Pedri; Yamal, Raphinha, Ferran; Lewandowski

Monaco (4-2-3-1): Köhn; Vanderson, Kehrer, Salisu, Ouattara; Zakaria, Magassa; Akliouche, Golovin, Ben Seghir; Embolo

PREDICTION

Hansi Flick has made it look pretty easy in La Liga so far, and the coach will certainly have learned the lessons from the Gamper. I don’t think this will be a cruise, but I’m still betting on the good guys to have a good plan and execute it well: 3-1 Barça.