Spurs and Monaco meet again in Wembley bow
Thursday, September 8, 2016
Article summary
Wembley is the venue as Tottenham mark their UEFA Champions League return with a swift reunion with a Monaco side they got the better of last season.
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Article body
Wembley is the venue for Tottenham Hotspur FC's return to the UEFA Champions League as they host Group F rivals AS Monaco FC – a team they faced in the UEFA Europa League only last season.
Previous meetings
• Tottenham eliminated Monaco from last season's UEFA Europa League when beating them 4-1 at White Hart Lane in their final game of the group stage last December. Erik Lamela hit a first-half hat-trick and though Stephan El Shaarawy scored for Monaco, Tom Carroll added a fourth goal for group winners Spurs.
• The lineups on 10 December 2015 were:
Tottenham: Lloris, Trippier, Alderweireld, Wimmer, Davies, Dier (Bentaleb 42), Carroll, Lamela (Chadli 62), Njié (Alli 79), Onomah, Son.
Monaco: Subašić, Wallace, Toulalan, Elderson, Bernardo Silva (Diarra 65), Pašalić, Bakayoko, Dirar, Moutinho (Lemar 46), Traoré (Mbappé 56), El Shaarawy.
• The teams had drawn 1-1 in Monaco on 1 October, El Shaarawy's 81st-minute goal cancelling out a Lamela first-half strike.
• Radamel Falcao scored twice, and Harry Kane once, when Monaco beat Tottenham 5-2 in a pre-season friendly in 2013.
Match background
Tottenham
• Third in the Premier League last season, Spurs are participating in their second UEFA Champions League group stage campaign. They reached the quarter-finals in 2010/11.
• Spurs won four of five home games en route to the last 16 of the UEFA Europa League in 2015/16.
• Tottenham have a 100% home record against French visitors (P4 W4).
• They are playing their UEFA Champions League home fixtures at Wembley Stadium owing to the impact – on access, capacity and rights delivery – of construction work taking place on a new stadium adjacent to White Hart Lane.
• Spurs won their first match at the new Wembley – beating Chelsea FC 2-1 in the 2008 English League Cup final – but have lost on their four visits since (2009 and 2015 League Cup finals; 2010 and 2012 FA Cup semi-finals).
• The new Wembley has never hosted a club's UEFA Champions League football before, although it was the venue for the 2011 and 2013 finals, but the old stadium staged Arsenal FC's three group games in 1999/2000 – one home win (v AIK Solna) and two defeats (v FC Barcelona and ACF Fiorentina).
Monaco
• Monaco are returning to the UEFA Champions League after a season's absence. On their last participation, in 2014/15, they reached the quarter-finals.
• Third in Ligue 1 last season, they came through two qualifying rounds to reach the group stage, beating Fenerbahçe SK (4-3 aggregate) and Villarreal CF (3-1 agg).
• Monaco's most recent victory in England came in north London during their 2014/15 UEFA Champions League campaign – a 3-1 success at Arsenal in the round of 16.
• Their overall away record against English clubs is W3 D2 L2.
Coach and player links
• Mauricio Pochettino played in French football from 2001 to 2004, with Paris Saint-Germain and FC Girondins de Bordeaux.
• Leonardo Jardim faced Arsenal as Olympiacos FC coach in the 2012/13 group stage, losing 3-1 in London but winning 2-1 at home.
• Hugo Lloris and Moussa Sissoko were in the France side beaten by João Moutinho's Portugal in the final of UEFA EURO 2016.
• Dele Alli hit his first international goal in England's 2-0 win over France in a Wembley friendly in November 2015.
• Tom Carroll and Kane were in the England team beaten 1-0 by Bernardo Silva's Portugal in their opening game at the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship finals.
• Ricardo Carvalho faced Tottenham ten times as a player at Chelsea (W4 D4 L2). He scored the only goal in a 1-0 home victory in April 2007 – but the same year lost to Spurs at Wembley in the League Cup final.
• As an OGC Nice player, Lloris faced Monaco five times in the 'Derby de la Côte d'Azur' (W1 D3 L1).
• Lloris and Jérémy Toulalan were team-mates in the Olympique Lyonnais side that won 2-1 at Liverpool FC in the 2009/10 group stage.
• Sissoko scored both goals for Toulouse FC in a 2-0 Ligue 1 win over Monaco in February 2011.
• The two clubs have some notable former players in common: Glenn Hoddle, Dimitar Berbatov, Jürgen Klinsmann and Emmanuel Adebayor.
• Players who have played together:
Lloris, Sissoko & Djibril Sidibé (France)
Lloris & Toulalan (Lyon)
Match facts
Tottenham
• Tottenham have drawn two of their four Premier League games this season. Including the end of last term, they have won just two in eight top-flight fixtures, drawing four.
• Summer signing Victor Wanyama scored a late winner in the 1-0 defeat of Crystal Palace on 20 August.
• Harry Kane, 2015/16 Premier League top scorer with 25 goals, took until Saturday's 4-0 success at Stoke City FC to open his account for this season. He did not get off the mark for his club last term until his ninth appearance; he now has 50 in the Premier League for Tottenham.
• Captain Hugo Lloris picked up a hamstring injury against Everton on 13 August and sat out Spurs' subsequent two league games. He missed only four Premier League games in the last three campaigns combined but started on Saturday.
• Christian Eriksen scored the only goal as Denmark beat Armenia in their first European Qualifier on 4 September. He signed a new contract at White Hart Lane two days later.
Monaco
• Brazilian right-back Fabinho had converted penalties in each of his last four outings, all this season, before scoring from open play in Saturday's 4-1 win at LOSC Lille.
• Radamel Falcao registered in each of his first two games for Monaco this season – both against Fenerbahçe, one a penalty – but only played his next game on Saturday having been injured in the second leg of the play-off.
• Bernardo Silva scored his first international goal as Portugal claimed a 5-0 friendly win against Gibraltar on 1 September. He and João Moutinho finished on the losing side five days later as the European champions went down 2-0 to Switzerland in FIFA World Cup qualifying.
• Gabriel Boschilia scored his first goal for Monaco as they beat Nantes 1-0 on 20 August.
• João Moutinho came on as a 66th-minute substitute in the UEFA EURO 2016 final on July 10 as Portugal beat France 1-0.