Monaco, Like Tottenham, in the Form to Make It a Wembley Occasion to Remember

The stage is set, and so is the team. Tickets for Tottenham Hotspur’s opening Champions League match against Monaco at Wembley have been little short of gold dust for the best part of a week. Given the stadium’s 90,000-capacity, Spurs will comfortably set a British record attendance for a Champions League home match.

It would be understandable if stepping away from White Hart Lane incurred at least a thimbleful of trepidation. It’s a bear pit under the lights, as Inter Milan could attest, having been taken apart there by Gareth Bale on a heady night in 2010, when they were defending the trophy.

Spurs have waited an excruciating six years for a second stab at the Champions League, having previously sat out nearly half-a-century of European Cup action. That followed Benfica coach Bela Guttmann predicting they would go on to dominate the competition (as recounted here by the Daily Telegraph’s John Ley), in a curious twist on the legendary Hungarian’s infamous curse.

Yet even if the misadventures of their north London neighbours Arsenal in their own temporary Champions League tenure must prompt a degree of caution, the sense is that Mauricio Pochettino’s side could not be more ready. Speaking to Talksport after Saturday’s 4-0 victory at Stoke, the coach described his team’s display as “almost perfect.” In a similar fashion to last season, Tottenham appear to have broken from a stroll into a sprint in the blink of an eye.

Lest we start writing the accolades before they take the field, however, it’s worth underlining that the opposition are unlikely to be willing cannon fodder.

Having looked a shambles in the corresponding fixture nine months ago, at White Hart Lane in the Europa League, Monaco are as prepared as they could be to attempt reparation for a night that accurately forecasted some of the misery that awaited them in the second half of their season.

Frank Augstein/Associated Press

Last December, a semi-reserve Spurs steamrollered Leonardo Jardim’s team, who were sent away with their tails between their legs in a 4-1 defeat, having required a win to have any hope of progressing to the knockout stage.

As the lesser-spotted Clinton N’Jie, among others, made merry in Monaco’s mess, the defensive disarray that would eventually allow Lyon to come back from the dead and rob them of second place in Ligue 1 was already writ large.

Missing out on automatic Champions League qualification—Lyon eventually sealed the deal by tearing Monaco to pieces, 6-1, in the penultimate match of the season, during which Jardim’s side touched a defensive nadir—probably did them a favour. There would be no mopping the brow after a close shave and carrying on. A rebuild was required.

Jardim’s new project already looks like a good one. Saturday’s 4-1 win at Lille (where Monaco had been rolled over by the same score as recently as April) meant that Wednesday night’s visitors finished the weekend atop the Ligue 1 table. They had already signalled their rude health before the international break, beating champions Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 in a scintillating display at Stade Louis II.

Monaco weren’t quite at their strongest at Lille either. First-choice goalkeeper Danijel Subasic and left-back Benjamin Mendy sat out through injury, while Radamel Falcao made his comeback as a substitute in the closing stages at Lille, playing for the last 25 minutes having missed several weeks with a hamstring injury. Coveted young midfielder Thomas Lemar, meanwhile, only returned to training this week.

JEAN CHRISTOPHE MAGNENET/Getty Images

After a raft of changes this summer, there’s real depth to Jardim’s squad. With the Tottenham match in mind, he was able to rest Joao Moutinho at Lille, bringing him on for the final half-hour with Monaco already three goals to the good. Djibril Sidibe, recently capped by France for the first time, went over from right-back to left-back to cover fellow new signing Mendy, and he even took time out from his defensive duties to open the scoring from a direct free-kick.

Falcao is unlikely to be risked from the off at Wembley, but his return has already been significant. His goals in each leg of the Champions League third qualifying round against Fenerbahce paved the way for getting to this point. His instant click with Valere Germain, the striker having returned from a productive season on loan at Nice, not only got Monaco’s campaign off to a flier, but convinced coach Jardim that 4-4-2 was viable.

In recent weeks, and including Saturday’s game, Monaco have been using a tweaked version of that, a 4-4-1-1, in Falcao’s absence. Moutinho thrived in the advanced role behind Germain against PSG, arriving in the box late to score an excellent opening goal (video courtesy of Ligue 1’s official YouTube channel).

Bernardo Silva, who has been in prime form after injury ruled him out of Portugal’s Euro 2016 campaign, filled the role in Saturday’s win. If Jardim fancies extra pace on the counter-attack at Wembley, Silva could be his better option.

The counter is worth considering because even if this Monaco are evolving nicely, Jardim will always be a safety-first kind of coach. That’s what was so concerning in the disappointing coda to last season, as his team leaked goals all over. Had Jardim lost his grip on the squad, one wondered?

He knew reinforcement was in order. Three of the first choice back four are new, with Sidibe and Mendy joined by Kamil Glik, who was so outstanding for Poland in their Euro 2016 campaign.

Prising Glik from Torino for a mere €8 million represents one of the bargains of the summer, especially in a market which many claim offers no value. Glik is a real threat attacking from corners, too, and it was from one such situation that he scored his first goal for the club at Lille.

Perhaps the real key is in front of the defence, where the arrival of Sidibe has freed up Fabinho to permanently anchor the midfield. The Brazilian still sees himself primarily as a right-back, and it’s there that Manchester United would probably have used him had their summer overtures come to fruition (as reported here by the Manchester Evening News).

There’s little doubt, though, that Monaco are a much better team with him in the holding-midfield spot. At least from an athletic perspective, he’s an upgrade on the ageing Jeremy Toulalan (now at Bordeaux) and is consistent with how Monaco are now—strong, speedy and sparky.

So Tottenham might not have it all their own way on Wednesday night. What they can say, however, is that they have opponents who share their current spirit of enterprise, and promise to help provide a spectacle to match what will be a great occasion.