Benfica travel to the Stade Louis II for the second time this season to face Monaco in the Champions League knockout round playoffs on Wednesday night.
The visitors will hope for a repeat of the 3-2 win they enjoyed here in the principality during the league phase, with hosts Monaco enduring a bit of a shaky run of form.
Match preview
© Imago
After being strong contenders for the top eight throughout the league phase, Monaco ended up all the way down in 17th, missing out on being seeded for these playoffs.
The 3-0 defeat Adi Hutter's men suffered at San Siro against Inter Milan on matchday eight was the cause of that, but a 3-2 loss against Benfica started their slide down the standings.
It is still an objective completed for Monaco though, who would have taken a top-24 finish prior to the start of the competition after successive group stage exits, in what is their first season back in the competition since 2018-19.
Monaco have faced some challenging opponents in 2025 so far, but there is no doubt that form is faltering, with five defeats from nine this calendar year, conceding 11 goals in their last four.
The hosts were thumped 4-1 at Paris Saint-Germain at the weekend, seeing them slip out of the Ligue 1 top three for the first time in many months, and that is not the sort of preparation they would have liked ahead of a hugely important home leg.
November's defeat to Benfica extended their winless record over their upcoming opponents, and against teams from Portugal in general, Monaco often face great difficulty, with just one win in eight - against Sporting Lisbon in 1997.
Benfica took four points off Monaco in the group stages of this competition back in 2014, before winning again 10 years later in the league phase earlier this season.
© Imago
They will now need to repeat the feat if they want to make amends for a group stage exit in the Champions League last season, after successive quarter-final runs prior to that.
This is the first time Benfica have faced the same club at two separate stages of a Champions League campaign, but with just three defeats in 13 games against French opponents, they may not be too disappointed with the outcome of the draw.
Confidence is also much higher in the camp now than it was merely two weeks ago, when manager Bruno Lage was confronted by angry supporters about the results on the pitch.
Benfica lost 5-4 to Barcelona despite leading 3-1 and 4-2, before then falling to a 3-1 defeat at Casa Pia, but since then, they have been perfect.
A huge 2-0 win away to Juventus saw them reach the playoffs, when a defeat would have seen them eliminated, and the Eagles have gone on to record back-to-back 3-2 wins over Estrela and Moreirense, leaving them just four points behind rivals Sporting at the top of the Primeira Liga.
Team News
© Imago
Monaco have a lengthy list of first-team players set to miss out here, with the most important being midfielder Lamine Camara, so Soungoutou Magassa may deputise against the club who he scored his first professional goal against in November.
In defence, Christian Mawissa is suspended after being sent off against Inter, while Jordan Teze and Wilfried Singo are both doubtful, leaving Hutter short on options at the back.
Up front, George Ilenikhena and Folarin Balogun are still struggling with injury, so Mika Biereth may make his Champions League debut for the club after coming in during January and making an instant impact in front of goal, in particular with a hat trick against Auxerre.
Benfica saw both Alexander Bah and Manu Silva forced off in the first half of their win at home to Moreirense at the weekend, making the pair doubtful for this one.
Angel Di Maria and Arthur Cabral missed the match entirely with minor knocks, but both should be in the squad for this one, with the latter battling against the in-form Vangelis Pavlidis for a starting berth.
The visitors have conceded 12 goals in five games, but Nicolas Otamendi has tried his best to alleviate that problem by contributing to goals at the other end, as the veteran defender has scored in back-to-back games for Lage's side.
Monaco possible starting lineup:
Majecki; Vanderson, Kehrer, Salisu, Caio Henrique; Zakaria, Magassa; Akliouche, Golovin, Ben Seghir; Biereth
Benfica possible starting lineup:
Trubin; Tomas Araujo, Antonio Silva, Otamendi, Fernandez; Florentino Luis, Aursnes, Kokcu; Di Maria, Pavlidis, Schjelderup
We say: Monaco 1-1 Benfica
Monaco's poor form of late has come at an awful time, with clubs hunting them down in the battle for the top four in Ligue 1 and a playoff in Europe to navigate, but they still have the quality to be competitive in this tie.
With four wins in their last five Champions League away games, Benfica have been competent travellers on the continent recently, but they may fall just short of winning three in a row on the road for the first time since the competition's rebranding here.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Andrew Delaney
