Chapter 1 Monaco

The Principality of Monaco is located in southeastern France. Like San Marino, it is a truly miniature country. Many people even confuse Monaco with Morocco.

This miniature country has a very famous team in France: Monaco.

The Principality of Monaco is too small, with only one team in the entire country. Therefore, after professionalization, the Monaco team has always participated in the French Football League.

This team was established by the Monaco royal family, so it is a true royal aristocratic team.

Due to the small size of the country, there are only over six thousand members.

However, this did not prevent them from becoming a strong team in the French league.

In the early 1960s, after Monaco Club continuously won the French Cup and the French League title, it became a pivotal presence in the French League.

This small club has cultivated world-class stars such as Henry, Abidal, Petit, and Trezeguet.

It is one of the most successful professional clubs in the French League.

After experiencing a financial crisis, the team was briefly relegated to the second division. However, after Rybolovlev injected capital and became the new owner, Monaco became the second local tyrant team in the French League, investing 250 million euros in buying players in a single season. This amount even exceeded the transfer fee when Abramovich took over Chelsea.

It is even the total transfer fee spent by Arsenal in the past ten years!

Last season, the investment finally paid off. They ended the four consecutive championships of the local tyrant Paris in one go, and regained the French League title after sixteen years. In the entire season, they scored 110 goals in 38 games, making them the only team in the French League with more than one hundred goals.

The team's new star, Mbappé, scored 30 goals and provided 15 assists, successfully being selected into the French League's best lineup.

This season, they are making a comeback. In the French League, their attacking firepower is even more ferocious, staging a two-team race with Paris.

However, their performance in the Champions League was slightly worse. As a top-tier team, they made mistakes in two consecutive games and were overtaken by Bayer Leverkusen from the Bundesliga, ranking second and encountering Manchester City.

Monaco's best record in the Champions League was in the 2003/04 season, when they made it all the way to the Champions League final.

They encountered Porto, a strong team from the Portuguese Super League, and were defeated in the European Champions Cup.

That Champions League final was also Mourinho's masterpiece. It was from Porto's Champions League that Mourinho began to enter the top European leagues and became a very individual champion coach.

Although Monaco's European战 (zhàn - war; here, games/matches) performance during this period did not reach its historical peak, its combat effectiveness must be the strongest in the entire history of the Monaco team.

The local tyrant owner has built a highly competitive attacking line, and the super-new star Mbappé is on the rise. Any team that encounters this young and impactful team will find it a bit of a headache.

And Manchester City's opponent in the first round of the knockout stage is them.

Now, Manchester City, although full of momentum in the league, is also advancing triumphantly in the Champions League.

However, they are missing three important main players due to injuries, and only Jesus, the new winter window signing, can play. The attacking power in the frontcourt has been greatly reduced, and the defense lines on both sides are most afraid of encountering speed impact.

The biggest feature of Monaco's attacking line is its extremely fast speed and strong impact.

Now, if Manchester City plays against Monaco in an offensive battle, they will not only not gain an advantage, but are very likely to suffer a loss.

Those media outlets waiting for Manchester City to stumble finally had a definite objective analysis for the first time.

Manchester City, this time may face the strongest resistance in the Champions League.

When they faced Real Madrid, although their overall strength was somewhat lacking at the time, their lineup was complete, their frontcourt attack was fierce, and they were not afraid of a head-on attack with Real Madrid.

Now, with main players missing in the midfield and frontcourt, the attacking power is naturally not the same.

Guardiola was in the meeting room, constantly explaining the tactical points for the game against Monaco.

Monaco's front line has two very impactful players.

In addition to the rising star Mbappé, there is also a strong, skilled, and excellent header, Colombian striker, Tiger Falcao.

Falcao during his time at Atletico Madrid was definitely a world-class striker. He once scored a hat-trick in the European Super Cup against Chelsea and also scored in the Copa del Rey to help Atletico Madrid beat Real Madrid to win the championship.

His brilliant performance in the 12/13 season also earned him a place in the FIFA and FIFPro World 11. In La Liga, he was a super striker comparable to Messi and Ronaldo!

Subsequently, Falcao joined Monaco for a transfer fee of 60 million, breaking the French League's historical transfer record.

With age and injuries, his impact has declined somewhat, but last season his connection with Mbappé made almost all the defenders in the French League suffer. He also entered the 30-man shortlist for the Ballon d'Or with his excellent performance.

This season, the chemical reaction between him and Mbappé is even more intense, and their attacking power still exceeds Paris, leading the French League.

If it weren't for the somewhat lacking defense line, Monaco's chances of winning the French League title this season would be very high.

And Monaco's midfield, in a sense, is not weaker than Manchester City's complete lineup.

Judging from the midfield personnel that Manchester City can field now, the overall strength even exceeds that of Manchester City.

Among them is a player that Zhao Gang is very familiar with, who would have become Zhao Gang's teammate according to the original timeline.

Bernardo Silva, also known as B Silva.

The future core of Manchester City's midfield, Guardiola's confidant and beloved general.

In Zhao Gang's previous timeline, Monaco eliminated Manchester City in the Champions League in two rounds, using their strong attacking power to defeat Manchester City.

Bernardo Silva played an important role in it. At the end of this season, Guardiola spent money to buy him over.

Similar to Kyle Walker, both were seen by Guardiola after playing against Manchester City and were bought over.

Guardiola's performance at Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga was not very good, but he learned the ways of the Bundesliga giants, which is to poach players, to poach people from the opponent's lineup. Without needing to improve himself much, the opponent would be weakened first.

To be able to become a midfielder that Guardiola relies on, and also a main player in the Portuguese national team, it can be seen that Bernardo Silva's strength is extraordinary.

Another super defensive midfielder who will land in the Premier League in the future, Fabinho, is also in the lineup.

In the future, he will transfer to Liverpool for 50 million euros and become the core midfielder for Liverpool's great revival. As a defensive midfielder, it is almost impossible to see him in the attack, but he can be ranked fourteenth in the Ballon d'Or selection, which shows his defensive role in the team.

Klopp once said that he is fast, good at interception, and is an extremely ideal defensive midfielder.

And the famous French football expert, Laurence, believes that he is one of the smartest players in European football, with very strong tactical intelligence and quite reliable ball control ability.

There is also another equally outstanding attacking midfielder, Thomas Lemar.

A member of the French national team, he will land in Atletico Madrid in La Liga for 70 million in the future.

He is also an important member of the French team that won the World Cup in the future.

His style of play is somewhat similar to Iniesta, with superb dribbling skills, not for show, but truly serving the team. He can create very good space and opportunities for himself and his teammates.

He is also the most versatile attacker on the field, with extremely strong passing skills, high-frequency continuous touch breakthroughs, small-scale dribbling and shooting ability.

Especially his crossing and set-piece ability. Although the speed is not fast, the accuracy is excellent, and the strength is excellent, which allows the front teammates to easily control the ball. The inserted players do not need too much adjustment to head the goal and volley!

He can solve the battle himself and can also help his teammates improve very well. From this point of view, his playing characteristics are also very similar to Zhao Gang's.

Compared with these three future first-class midfielders, the last one is a little less famous, Bakayoko.

But he is also a frequent visitor to the French national team in the future, and because of his excellent performance in Monaco, he joined Chelsea for 40 million pounds.

His worth is not much worse than Bernardo Silva.

And if fans who are familiar with Serie A will have a very deep impression of him, he was loaned to Milan and Naples, where he did not perform very well at Chelsea, and played extremely well in the top Italian teams.

He performs quite well on the defensive end, and also has good creativity, stable ball protection, fierce steals, and his passes are concise enough.

Such a star-studded midfield lineup, and all are extremely young and full of impact, is not inferior to Manchester City's midfield.

If there is no Zhao Gang, Manchester City's midfield, Sterling and De Bruyne, really can't compare to these rising stars who will shine in the world football in the future.

Although Monaco's defense line is not very good overall, the reputation of one of the defenders is not much different from that of the midfielders.

Another Monaco player who was poached by Guardiola, Manchester City's right back now has Kyle Walker, so he naturally poached the left back, Mendy, at the end of the season.

He was selected into the best team of Ligue 1 last season. After the end of the season, he was bought by Guardiola for 52 million pounds to Manchester City.

He is also one of the members of the French team that won the World Cup.

These starting players are not famous enough now, but their strength is obvious to all.

In Zhao Gang's original timeline, after eliminating Manchester City, they went all the way, and made it to the Champions League semi-finals!

In the end, they regrettably lost to Juventus, the Italian斑马军团 (bān mǎ jūn tuán - zebra legion).

This time facing the depleted Manchester City, they don't have too much pressure and are already sharpening their swords.

Monaco is also strong in attack and weak in defense, which is a bit similar to the current Manchester City.

Therefore, in the eyes of many media, this game will be an offensive battle.

If both sides want to advance, they must score more goals than the opponent, instead of relying on defense to concede one less goal than the opponent!