Al-Waqi’a News: The French team Monaco will meet the Spanish team Barcelona at exactly ten o’clock this evening, Thursday, at the “Louis II” stadium, in the first round of the league stage of the European Champions League for the current season 2024-25 in its new form.
Monaco vs Barcelona
Barcelona enters today’s match looking for three points to confirm its worthiness this season after achieving full marks in the Spanish League and regaining much of its brilliance under the leadership of its German coach Hans Flick.
While Monaco is playing today’s match in search of victory, especially with the strong performances it is presenting in the French League this season and its ability to collect 10 points and reserve third place in the league table behind Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille.
Barcelona has a distinguished record in the opening matches of the Champions League, as it was able to win 10 matches, draw 4, and lose only one match in the last 15 matches it played.
UEFA has assigned Dutch referee Allard Lindhout to officiate the Monaco vs Barcelona match, and this will be the first time the referee will officiate a Champions League match. Dennis Hegeler will also be in charge of the VAR video technology.
Barcelona will miss their star player Dani Olmo after the injury he sustained during the match against Girona in the Spanish League. His estimated absence period will be between 4 and 5 weeks.
Olmo will miss 6 matches for Barcelona until October 20, including 4 in the Spanish League and 2 in the Champions League.
History of confrontations between Monaco and Barcelona
Historically, Monaco and Barcelona have only met twice, both in the 1994 Champions League, where Barcelona won both legs.
Barcelona has the advantage in market value with 875 million euros, compared to 339 million for the home team, Monaco, while the Spanish star tops the list of the most expensive players in the match with 120 million euros.
The Champions League system has changed, with 36 teams participating, divided into 4 categories, and two teams from each category will play together in a home-and-away system. The teams in positions 1 to 8 qualify directly to the second round, and the teams in positions 9 to 24 will play a home-and-away play-off to determine the 8 teams that will participate in the second round, in addition to the eight qualifiers.
The Champions League prize money has risen to nearly €2.5 billion ($2.79 billion), with the winner able to pocket more than €86 million in prize money alone, not counting the €700,000 bonus for each point earned in the league phase, or revenue from television rights.
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