Monaco takes on Barcelona in the Champions League on Thursday at the Stade Louis II, pitting two clubs that have started the season undefeated.
Despite finishing second in their respective leagues the previous season, both teams have had encouraging starts in an attempt to improve.
After only placing second to Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1 the previous season, Monaco is trending upward under Adi Hutter.
With a 3-0 victory over Auxerre over the weekend, they extended their unbeaten streak to four games. This gave Hutter the opportunity to make several substitutes prior to this match, which was completed in an hour.
That winning streak could be jeopardized, though, as this will be a far cry from the opponents they have been playing at home.
In what promises to be a difficult league season for them, Monaco will also host Benfica and Aston Villa in addition to traveling to Inter Milan and Arsenal. First up is Barcelona.
Monaco has won seven of their last nine matches against Spanish teams, so even if their next opponents may be intimidating, their record against them could give them tremendous confidence.
Though no team has ever lost eight home games in a row in the competition's history, a terrible recent run of home form in this competition—having lost seven straight at the Stade Louis II—is cause for concern.
After their last participation in the competition in 2018, which resulted in their second consecutive group stage exit, Hutter will be hoping that a lot has changed in terms of mentality.
Despite only having qualified for the Champions League nine times, the team does have an amazing overall record, having advanced to one final, three semi-finals, and a quarter-final.
Barcelona and them had only faced up once before, in the 1993 campaign, with the Catalan team winning both games without giving up.
As they prepare for their 21st consecutive season in Europe's top tournament, Hansi Flick's team will want to make it three wins out of three, but given the caliber of the club, they need to do better than their previous performances.
Barca has only advanced past the quarterfinals once since winning the European Championship in 2015; this run of play includes two group stage exits in 2021 and 2022.
That stands in stark contrast to their record in the club's heyday, when they made it to the semi-finals at least ten times in 15 campaigns from 1999 to 2015.
Given that Barca has only triumphed on two of their previous nine trips to France—one of which was at PSG prior to losing the quarterfinal match—Monaco might not be the best opponents to start with.
However, the Blaugrana are frequently quick openers, particularly in recent years, as evidenced by their five opening-day triumphs over Ferencvaros, Viktoria Plzen, and Antwerp in the past four seasons.
A strong league start will also give the few Culers who are traveling to the south of France with confidence. They extended their 100% start to five games with their 4-1 victory over Girona on Sunday, scoring 17 goals along the way, with Lamine Yamal once again taking center stage with two of them.
