Club Brugge v Monaco background

Club Brugge and Monaco are both already six points off the pace in Group A, and each will know the importance of registering a first win in the section as they meet in Belgium.

• Both teams have been beaten by Borussia Dortmund and Atlético Madrid – level at the top of the section with six points apiece – and need three points at the Jan Breydelstadion to belatedly kick-start their campaign.

• However, both sides are on long winless runs in the UEFA Champions League; indeed, Club Brugge have lost their last eight matches in the competition proper.

• Monaco are under new management for this game, Leonardo Jardim having departed on 11 October; two days later, the club appointed former striker Thierry Henry as his replacement, his first job as a head coach.

Previous meetings
• The sides' only past contests came in the 1988/89 European Cup second round, when each were home winners. However, while Club Brugge took the advantage with a 1-0 success in the first leg in Belgium, Monaco turned the tie round in style back in France, a Youssouf Fofana hat-trick helping secure a 6-1 second-leg win.

• The first leg of that tie took place on 26 October 1988 – two days short of 30 years before this matchday three fixture.

Form guide
Club Brugge
• Beaten 1-0 at home by Dortmund on matchday one, Club Brugge went down 3-1 at Atlético last time out to extend their run of defeats in the UEFA Champions League, group stage to final, to eight in a row – four short of the competition record held by another Belgian club, Anderlecht.

• Belgian champions for the 15th time in 2017/18, this is Club Brugge's second group campaign in three seasons, and their sixth overall. Before 2016/17 – when they lost every game to finish bottom of a group including Leicester, Porto and København – their previous participation had come in 2005/06.

• The Belgian side are without a win in their last 12 UEFA Champions League fixtures, qualifying included (D1 L11).

• Group stage to final, Club Brugge's last win in the competition was a 3-2 home defeat of Rapid Wien in November 2005; their record since then is D1 L9. They have won only two of their last 14 fixtures in the UEFA Champions League proper (D1 L11).

• Club Brugge's last meetings with French opposition came in the 2012/13 UEFA Europa League group stage, when they lost away (0-4) and home (1-2) to Bordeaux.

• The defeat by Bordeaux in Bruges ended a three-match unbeaten run at home to French visitors (W2 D1). Overall, Club Brugge's record against Ligue 1 sides in Belgium is W5 D1 L4.

• Runners-up to Liverpool in 1978, Club Brugge remain the only team from Belgium to have reached a European Cup final.

Monaco 
• Having opened with a 2-1 home defeat against Atlético, Monaco went down 3-0 in Dortmund on matchday two – extending their run of European away games without a win to five (D2 L3).

• Second in Ligue 1 last season, Monaco reached the 2016/17 UEFA Champions League semi-finals but finished bottom of their 2017/18 group having collected two points from their six games.

• Monaco drew two of their three away games in 2017/18, losing the other; a 3-2 win at Dortmund in the 2016/17 quarter-final first leg is their sole success in their last nine  European away fixtures (D3 L5).

• Monaco are without a win in ten European games (D2 L8), since a 3-1 home victory against Dortmund in the quarter-final second leg in April 2017.

• The Ligue 1 outfit's last trip to Belgium brought a 1-1 draw at Anderlecht in the 2015/16 UEFA Europa League group stage; Monaco went on to lose the home game 2-0.

• The 1988 defeat at Club Brugge is Monaco's only loss in Belgium in three visits (W1 D1).

• Runners-up in 2004, Monaco remain the last French team to reach the UEFA Champions League final.

Links and trivia
• Henry spent two years as an assistant and forwards coach to the Belgium national team before taking up the head coach role at Monaco; Club Brugge's Hans Vanaken featured in several Belgium squads during that period.

• Monaco midfielder Youri Tielemans was an Anderlecht player between 2013 and 2017, winning two league titles.

• Nacer Chadli was born in Liege and was in the youth teams at Thier-à-Liège, Standard Liège and MVV Maastricht before making his senior breakthrough at Dutch side AGOVV Apeldoorn. He has never played senior club football in his homeland.

• Have also played in Belgium:
Adama Traoré (Mouscron 2014)
Jordy Gaspar (Cercle Brugge 2017/18)

• Have played in France:
Benoît Poulain (Nîmes 2006–14)
Marvelous Nakamba (Nancy 2012–14)

• International team-mates:
Jelle Vossen, Brandon Mechele, Hans Vanaken & Nacer Chadli, Youri Tielemans (Belgium)
Matej Mitrović & Danijel Subašić (Croatia)
Sofyan Amrabat & Youssef Ait Bennasser (Morocco)

• Arnaut Groeneveld scored the Netherlands' goal in a 1-1 friendly draw with Belgium on 16 October; Tielemans and Chadli were in the Belgium side, with Vanaken and Mechele unused substitutes.

• Monaco general manager Filips Dhondt held the same role at Club Brugge between 2001 and 2010.

Latest news

Club Brugge
• The Belgian champions won eight of their first nine league games this season, drawing the other, before a 3-1 defeat at Standard Liège on 7 October. They were held 1-1 at home by Waasland-Beveren on Friday.

• Club Brugge won the Belgian Super Cup for the 15th time on 22 July in their own Jan Breydelstadion, beating Standard 2-1 with goals from Hans Vanaken and Wesley.

• Club Brugge's Belgian Cup campaign ended in the last 32, with a 2-0 defeat at amateur side Deinze on 26 September.

• Arnaut Groeneveld made his Netherlands debut as a substitute in the 3-0 UEFA Nations League victory against Germany on 13 October; three days later, he marked his first start with the equaliser in a 1-1 friendly draw against Belgium.

• Matej Mitroviċ scored Croatia's second goal in a 2-1 friendly win against Jordan on 15 October.

• Rezaei Kaveh missed matchday one with a knee problem and has not played since.*

Monaco
• Monaco were beaten 4-0 by Paris Saint-Germain in the Trophée des Champions on 4 August.

• Monaco have won only one of their 13 matches this season, the 3-1 success at Nantes on the opening day of Ligue 1 on 11 August. They have lost nine, including eight of the last ten and four in a row before Leonardo Jardim's departure.

• Thierry Henry's reign as Jardim's replacement also got off to a losing start as a result of Saturday's 2-1 reverse at Strasbourg.

• Monaco have six points after ten Ligue 1 games in 2018/19, 16 less than at the same stage last season. This represents their worst start to a season since 1953/54, when they had five points after ten matches.

• Radamel Falcao scored twice in the club's last five fixtures under Jardim – the only Monaco player to find the net during that period. He limped off shortly before half-time at Strasbourg having suffered a thigh injury.

• Falcao and Youri Tielemans – who failed to find the net in 27 Ligue 1 outings last season – have scored Monaco's last six league goals between them, three apiece. Tielemans scored a late consolation penalty at Strasbourg.

• Substitute Samuel Grandsir was sent off one minute and 51 seconds after his introduction at Strasbourg.

• Danijel Subašić came on as a substitute on matchday two having not played since the FIFA World Cup final on 15 July due to a hamstring injury while Stevan Jovetić was out between 18 August and 7 October with a calf complaint.

• Rony Lopes suffered a hamstring injury in training with Portugal in early September and has not played since; Kevin Ndoram is expected to be sidelined for up to four weeks with an elbow injury.