Manchester City host Monaco in the Champions League round-of-16 on Tuesday night in what has been billed as a clash of Europe’s emerging powers, with either side fancying their chances of progressing into the last-eight. 

The oligarch-backed clubs are looking to make a splash on a stage in which they have had little success and with expensive talents all around, they have the perfect opportunity to do so in the first leg at the Eithad Stadium.

Manchester City
Pep Guardiola has had a difficult first season in the Premier League, but in Europe the signs have been promising. A win over mighty Barcelona in the group-stages made many sit up and take notice of the Sky Blues.

With their league aspirations effectively over, it would be fair to say that the Champions League is now the main aim.

They had been impressive in recent weeks, winning five matches on the trot before a draw on the weekend against second-tier side Huddersfield brought that run to a halt.

Their preparations were dealt a massive blow when hot-shot striker Gabriel Jesus was stretchered off last week against Bournemouth and in all probability will miss the remainder of the season. It now falls to the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero to step up and deliver in the Brazilian’s absence.

While City don’t lack firepower by any stretch of the imagination as young players such as Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling are in impressive form, their achilles heel is inarguably their defence.

Guardiola will have to choose whether to start Willy Caballero or Claudi Bravo in goal and to be fair, neither goalkeeper inspires confidence.

Apart from Jesus and fellow long-term absentee Ilkay Gundogan City have a full complement of players available and even captain Vincent Kompany could make the bench.

Monaco

The principality club are flying high in Ligue 1, leading Paris Saint-Germain by three points and they impressively topped their Champions League group which had Bayer Leversuken and Tottenham Hotspur in it, losing just one game from six.

Despite the fact that they dropped points against Bastia, Monaco are unarguably the in-form side between the two as they are unbeaten in their last 12 games.

Their attack, much like their opponents, is their greatest strength with Radamel Falcao leading the line for Leonardo Jardim's side with an impressive goals tally of 21 season already.

The experienced Joao Moutinho pulls the strings in midfield, but Monaco have young guns of their own who have caught the eye of Europe’s scouts. Thomas Lemar is a fine right winger and with his speed, could cause City a lot of problems on the wing.  And in Kylin Mbappe they have a secret weapon of sorts as the 18-year-old striker is very much an unknown quantity and can create havoc if sent in the second half.

Monaco are well-stocked in every department, with Gabriel Boschilla the sole absentee as he is recovering from a cruciate ligament rupture.

Super Stat: This is the first-ever meeting between the two cash-rich sides in the Champions League!