Fresh from a striking pre-season win over Barcelona, Monaco return to Ligue 1 action on Saturday night, when newly-promoted Saint-Etienne make a pit stop at Stade Louis II.
While Adi Hutter's men wound up in second place in the 2023-24 top flight, Les Verts conquered the promotion playoffs to earn their Ligue 1 badge at the expense of Metz.
Match preview
© Reuters
After Marseille in 2021-22 and Lens in 2022-23, it was Monaco's turn to finish as the best of the rest behind Paris Saint-Germain in the 2023-24 Ligue 1 campaign, taking the silver medal with 67 points on the board to comfortably see off the unexpected challenge of Brest.
Hutter's troops even led the way for the early part of the campaign and continued to hover around the podium places even after PSG's customary surge, eventually nabbing second place on account of winning seven of their last eight games of the campaign.
By virtue of finishing as PSG's closest challengers, Monaco will end their six-year exile from the Champions League proper, having last dined at Europe's top table all the way back in the 2018-19 season, before failing to qualify in 2021-22 and 2022-23.
Following a mixed start to pre-season, in which they only won one of their four battles, Monaco's summer zenith arrived in the Joan Gamper Trophy, where they stunned Barcelona 3-0 in the Catalans' backyard to storm to the exhibition trophy.
That three-goal crushing of Hansi Flick's side came after Hutter had overseen a 3-1 triumph over Dutch giants Feyenoord, as Monaco's rising stars fill the boots left by Wissam Ben Yedder, who departed at the end of his contract earlier this summer following five prolific campaigns.
© Reuters
Saturday's visitors will no doubt be glad to see the back of Ben Yedder as they gear up for a swift return to action in the big time, having sparkled under head coach Olivier Dall'Oglio following the 60-year-old's appointment at the midway point of the season.
Dall'Oglio took over after Laurent Batlles had overseen a horrendous five-game losing sequence in Ligue 2, and his side's springtime revival saw Les Verts nab third place behind Auxerre and Angers, thereby earning qualification for the promotion/relegation playoff semi-final.
After seeing off the threat of Rodez, Saint-Etienne's date with destiny came against a Metz side scrapping for their Ligue 1 safety, and following a nervy 2-1 win in the first leg, Les Verts got the job done in the return fixture in the most dramatic of circumstances.
Metz's own 2-1 win in normal time forced an additional 30, where substitute Ibrahima Wadji made himself a Saint-Etienne hero with a 116th-minute equaliser, as Saturday's visitors jumped back up to the top flight at the second time of asking.
Saint-Etienne notably overcame Montpellier HSC and Villarreal in pre-season, but their final friendly battle ended in a 1-0 loss to La Liga outfit Getafe, and they head to the Stade Louis II on a three-match losing sequence against Monaco, shipping three or more goals each time.
- L
- D
- D
- W
- W
- D
- W
- W
- L
- L
Team News
© Reuters
With Ben Yedder bidding an emotional farewell to Les Monegasques, Breel Embolo and Folarin Balogun will share the goalscoring burden alongside 17-year-old George Ilenikhena, Monaco's most expensive signing of the summer so far at £16m from Club Brugge.
The hosts have also captured Thilo Kehrer on a permanent deal from West Ham United, while poaching defender Christian Mawissa from Toulouse for £13.7m and midfielder Lamine Camara from relegated Metz for £12.8m.
The latter has been signed as a replacement for two players, firstly namesake Mohamed Camara, who was given a four-game ban at the end of last season for covering up anti-homophobia logos, and has since been sold to Qatari side Al-Sadd.
Lamine Camara will also plug a gap left by long-serving lynchpin Youssouf Fofana, who is believed to be on the verge of joining AC Milan and was not involved in the Joan Gamper Trophy.
While Monaco have sold a suspended player, Saint-Etienne must cope without a banned man of their own on Saturday in the shape of right-back Yvann Macon, who picked up a milestone yellow card in the second leg of the playoff final.
Dennis Appiah is the obvious option to come in for Macon in defence, but Dall'Oglio's squad is otherwise in relatively good shape; the only injury concern is 23-year-old midfielder Aimen Moueffek, who is set to miss out with a thigh problem.
Monaco possible starting lineup:
Kohn; Vanderson, Kehrer, Salisu, Henrique; Minamino, Camara, Zakaria, Golovin; Embolo, Balogun
Saint-Etienne possible starting lineup:
Larsonneur; Appiah, Abdelhamid, Briancon, Bentayg; Tardieu, Monconduit, Milandinovic; Davitashvili, Sissoko, Cafaro
We say: Monaco 3-0 Saint-Etienne
Even without Ben Yedder lurking in the final third, Monaco possess more than enough offensive firepower to put Saint-Etienne to the sword on Saturday, perhaps by an identical scoreline to their Barcelona battering.
While a good chunk of Les Verts' defenders have Ligue 1 experience, the visitors lack a genuine threat up top and will surely struggle to stay afloat in the top division.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
