Monaco hosts Shakhtar Donetsk in the first leg of the Champions League qualification final. The match will be played on Tuesday, August 17th at Stade Louis II (Monaco)
The Monegasques have experienced a recession, but under the management of Niko Kovac, they breathed in the back of competitors in the fight for the title in Ligue 1, Lille and PSG. As a result, AS Monaco took only 3rd place, but this was also a serious progress after the failures of previous years. And this result allowed the club to return to the Champions League qualification. But so far everything is going well there for the club. The Monegasques did not leave a single chance to Sparta Prague, which was their first opponent (2-0 in the Czech Republic and 3-1 at home). We may note Golovin, who helped open the score in the first match and scored the winning goal at home. However, the start in Ligue 1 shows that the current Monaco is not without flaws.
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Shakhtar Donetsk received a new coach in the summer. Roberto De Zerbi spent the preseason with the team, and the players were selected, obviously, in consultation with him. However, it is still noticeable that the team is only rebuilding for new ideas, and the coach continues to experiment. Fortunately, the UPL has already started, and there have been more games than in the French Ligue 1. Not everything works out, and there were problems even in the confrontation against Genk, although the Miners managed to win both games with a score of 2-1. However, the style does not change especially, which is still remembered by the past coaches: the club tries to play actively, and not without success. But in defense, mistakes are constantly made, and the option with Vitao and Marlon as central defenders does not look optimal.
If we don’t pay attention to the friendly match in 2015, the clubs played against each other only in the 1/32 finals of the UEFA Cup, in the fall of 1979. Then they exchanged home wins, but the French scored more goals. The Miners were unlucky with the opponent, but Monaco can also complain about the draw, as it also hardly likes such an opponent. Let's believe that Shakhtar Donetsk will keep the intrigue.
Prediction for the match: Shakhtar Donetsk to win with +1.0 handicap
