After several dry years, last year was quite good for the Monaco footballers, as this team finally managed to reach its primary goal, and return to where it belongs, and that is certainly the Champions League. 

Hand on heart, the team from the principality will have to go the hard way to the best European club competition, but they started quite well in the qualifications, as they celebrated in the first match of the third round of the playoffs against Sparta Prague, and the duel ended with a score of 0 : 2. That the "princes" will be happy in this match, could be guessed in the 37th minute, when Shuameni, after Golovin's assist, hit the net of the Czech vice-champion. Voland put an end to the match in the 59th minute, when he used Diop's assist. Monaco is one step closer to the playoffs, and they will have the opportunity to certify the placement in the next one in the return match next Tuesday. When it comes to the preparation period, Monaco performed quite well, as they achieved almost all triumphs, except for one defeat, from the not at all naive Real Sociedad team, which has great ambitions in the Spanish La Liga this season. Last season, Monaco played nineteen matches at home last season, in which they achieved as many as twelve triumphs, five draws and only two defeats, and they were convincingly the best hosts in Ligue 1.

Behind Nantes is a rather bad season and you really need to be realistic, so admit that the players of this team barely managed to preserve their first league status. Namely, this team finished the championship in eighteenth place on the table, which is known to bring a duel at the end of the season to survive in the best rank of French football with the third-placed team from Ligue 2. As for this season, there is absolutely no doubt that this time too the primary goal will be to survive in the company of the best, but it will certainly be quite a difficult task. When it comes to the preparation period, Nantes played six matches and achieved only two triumphs and even four defeats, so it is certain that this team will welcome the start of the French championship in a not very good mood.

Monaco has a great result from the first match of the third round of qualifications for the Champions League, so it is certain that Niko Kovač's team will fully focus on this duel in which they are definitely big favorites, and I can imagine Monaco winning today 3-0 or 2-0.