Last season’s Champions League semi-finalists Monaco host Besiktas at the Stade Louis II stadium on Tuesday, with the Ligue 1 champions in desperate need of three points in order to aid their battle in Group G. Their Turkish opponents have won both of their European encounters to date, scoring five goals in the process. Despite this, it is still the French giants who are the favourites for victory.
Champions League – Stade Louis II, Monaco – Tuesday 17th October – 19:45 UK Time
Match Preview
Having lit up last season’s Champions League with their exciting brand of football, Monaco host Besiktas this week as they attempt to rediscover their best form in Europe’s premier club competition. However, having lost out to Porto last time around, Besiktas will head to the south of France in confident mood, having made a 100% winning start to their campaign themselves. With players such as Radomel Falcao, Fabinho, Pepe and Ricardo Quaresma all set to line-up in this match, the encounter could well be one of the ties of the week.
AS Monaco Team News & Form
Despite earning a valuable point at RB Leipzig in the opening week of the competition, Monaco followed the result up with a shock 3-0 defeat against Porto. On top of this, a 3-2 defeat to Lyon in Ligue 1 over the weekend has left Monaco six points behind leaders PSG, with the pressure on manager Leonardo Jardim to get his team back in contention for the latter stages. Having lost star man Kylian Mbappe over the summer, along with the likes of Benjamin Mendy and Bernardo Silva, new players including Stevan Jovetic and Youri Tielemans are yet to fire on all cylinders.
Besiktas Team News & Form
Manager Şenol Güneş has led his side to a fine start in the Champions League, with victories over Porto and RB Leipzig leaving them three points clear at the top of group G. With the Turkish side having also conceded just one goal to date, the likes of Pepe and Dusko Tosic have certainly improved what was previously a shaky defence. With former Premier League players such as Alvaro Negredo, Ryan Babel and Gary Medel also expected to line-up for the visitors, Monaco look set to be in for another tough match on Tuesday.
Head to Head
The two teams have never previously met in any competitive fixture, with Besiktas’ trip to France this week a completely new venture for the Turkish giants. As a result, there are no conclusions to be made in this area when looking to make predictions surrounding this encounter.
Betting Odds and Predictions
Given their performances in this competition last season, Monaco are the undoubted favourites for this encounter. For those looking to back the reigning French champions, odds of 4/6 can be found at Ladbrokes. However, for those who fancy a third straight Champions League victory for Besiktas, the same bookmakers offer odds of 9/2. Meanwhile, backing both teams to score at the Stade Louis II this week is worth considering, with Ladbrokes providing customers with odds of 7/10 for this market.
Top Betting Tip
Our top betting tip for the match is to back Monaco to defeat Besiktas and both teams to score, which can be found at best odds of 11/5 at Ladbrokes.