Wednesday night will mark the eagerly-anticipated clash of the French giants Monaco and serial Italian kingpins Juventus in the first leg of this Champions-League semi-final.
It promises to be an intriguing contest as the free scoring Monaco attempt to unlock the tightest defence in this competition at Stade Louis II.
Both sides look set to claim their respective league-titles and will seek to make it a season of all seasons by making the Champions League Final, a stage that the French side have only reached once before in their history.
Much of Monaco’s recent success can be attributed to the uninhibited exploits of their teenage French dynamo Kylian Mbappé.
Mbappé is more developed than Thierry Henry was at his current age according to the former Aston Villa manager and French international Remi Garde. The speedster, valued by his club at £100million, has ripped Ligue 1, Bundesliga and Premier league defences apart this season netting a whopping 24 times in 38 appearances.
One of football’s hottest properties will be aiming to do to the Serie A Champions what he did to Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City respectively during Monaco’s swashbuckling route to the semi-finals of this competition.
Mbappé has been central to this journey and has proven himself as a big game player, with five goals scored already in the knockout stages of this year’s competition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bvI-q4sqxM
Mbappé could conceivably be plying his trade in the Premier-League next season, according to his uncle.
Pierre Mbappé stated that his nephew was content at Monaco under Leonardo Jardim, but that Manchester United and City are potential destinations should he decide to leave.
"Are Juventus an option for the future? Yes, Juve are, as well as the two teams in Manchester, PSG, Real Madrid, Barcelona... in the future, they could all be options," he said.
This Juventus outfit has a wonderful blend of experience and youth themselves, however, and Massimiliano Allegri’s side will be hopeful that their Argentine attacking assassin Pablo Dybala, who has drawn favourable comparisons with Lionel Messi, will outshine the French jewel Mbappé.
Whatever way it goes it promises to be exciting as two of the world’s brightest attacking talents attempt to light up the Champions League once more.
