Monaco face Coventry in final warm-up, Zakaria to get minutes | OneFootball

Monaco end their England camp with a sixth pre-season match at Coventry on Friday 14 August at 20:30 French time, against the newly promoted Premier League side.

According to Nice-Matin, Denis Zakaria will make his return with a brief outing, while Folarin Balogun will not feature as he is nearing an exit and short of fitness. Paul Pogba is also out after a left hamstring issue sustained in training on Tuesday, and Monaco intend to terminate his contract.

They beat Liverpool 3-2 at Anfield on Sunday, Paris Brunner scoring with a header, and now chase a third straight win to round off their six-day stay, at the Coventry Building Society Arena.

A year ago, also in a friendly, Monaco won 5-0 at St George’s Park against the Bantams, then in the Championship and aiming for the top tier. Frank Lampard’s side were crowned champions and return to the elite 25 years after their previous appearance.

Coach Filipe Luis accepts Monaco are far from perfect and says the focus is on correcting the team’s behaviour to reach the standard he wants. He views Coventry as an aggressive opponent and a useful test that should offer clues to fix issues posed by rivals.

Looking ahead, Monaco open their Europa Conference League play-off with the first leg against Ferencvaros on Thursday. This is their final tune-up before that tie.

Source: Nice-Matin

“Artificial intelligence was used to assist in creating this article based on reporting from the original source quoted.”