Champions League Preview: What a Difference a Year Can Make!

AS Monaco vs Atletico Madrid

The Champions League is back, SBOBET fans.

With a respectful nod to the World Cup—and what a summer it was—this is football’s premier club competition as 32 teams start their quest in earnest for the prize Real Madrid hold and so many others crave.

It’s across the Spanish capital where we focus our attention. City rivals Atletico Madrid are on a bid to go one better than in 2014 and in 2016 when they missed out in the cruellest of fashions at the hands of their arch-rivals.

Talking Points

Although Diego Simeone’s men have made a fairly slow start to the new La Liga campaign, they showed their undoubted talent last month to lift the European Super Cup.

Now, they want to add the big one to their trophy cabinet which also currently boasts the Europa League.

As the Champions League 2018 gets underway in full, it’s initially clear where Los Rojiblancos’ main concerns may be.

Going into the weekend, Atletico had the lowest shot accuracy in La Liga, albeit only three games, at 17.85 percent.

Yet, there’s hardly a shortage of attacking talent, and many will be looking forward to seeing what they hope will be the continued emergence of Saul Niguez at club level after his goalscoring exploits for Spain against England and Croatia during the international break.

It has even triggered suggestions that Spain could be ready to dominate international football once again.

Even if he doesn’t have his shooting boots on, there’s Diego Costa, talisman Antoine Griezmann, Koke and Thomas Lemar.

While Atletico continue to challenge for many of the top prizes—despite a clear difference in their financial outlay compared to Spanish rivals Real and Barcelona—AS Monaco can only wish their circumstances were the same,

They spent big for a time, bankrolled by Russian tycoon Dmitry Rybolovlev, signing the likes of Radamel Falcao and James Rodriguez and luring the likes of Eric Abidal and Ricardo Carvalho on free transfers with huge salaries.

Almost as quickly as they threatened to become a big superpower, Monaco reined in their expenditure as Falcao (now back at the club) and other big names were moved on in a swift change of direction.

The change of approach from ‘spend big’ to cash in on top stars and develop more young players paid dividends, however, as they won the French title for the first time since the turn of the millennium and reached the semi-finals of the 2017 Champions League, thrilling fans along the way.

Barely 18 months on, the position has changed dramatically once more.

Most of their top players from that team have departed, including Lemar, Fabinho, Kylian Mbappe and Benjamin Mendy. And the year after pipping big-spending Paris Saint-Germain to the title, they finished 13 points behind them.

That was enough for them to qualify for this competition once again, even if the Champions League 2018 odds do not tip them to fare too well.

Radamel Falcao looks to give AS Monaco a winning start to their Champions League journey — Radamel Falcao celebrates after scoring a goal for AS Monaco against Marseille

Falcao may now be approaching the latter chapters of his career, but he still embodies both the old and new Monaco in many ways, nurturing young talent such as Pietro Pellegri, seen by many as one of the club’s main hopes for the future.

He has been prolific in the principality during both his spells, including 33 goals in 55 Ligue 1 appearances over the past two seasons.

He also scored twice against Atletico for Porto in the 2009/10 group stage.

Yet, one suspects he will need more support in the Louis II Stadium than he has currently got.

Atletico failed to make it out of the group stage in the competition last season, though they had the consolation of Europa League glory and have since strengthened.

Monaco, meanwhile, finished bottom of their group and have since lost more key men.

Can they really hit the ground running in Group A and create some Champions League 2018 highlights?