Rodri and Stones start against Monaco | OneFootball

Rodri and John Stones have both been named in Pep Guardiola's team to face Monaco at the Stade Louis II this evening.

Rodri sat out both victories last week over Huddersfield Town and Burnley, while Stones was not involved in the latter game following 90 minutes earlier in the week.

Captain Bernardo Silva also returns to the starting XI, with Matheus Nunes, Nico and Savinho all moving to the bench.

After a 2-0 win over Napoli just under fortnight ago, we’re hoping to make it two successes from two at the start of this year’s Champions League league phase.

This is only the third competitive meeting between City and Monaco, after a dramatic two-legged Round of 16 tie in 2016/17 that ended 6-6 on aggregate.

Teams

CITY XI: Donnarumma, Stones, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Rodrigo, Bernardo (C), Reijnders, Foden, Doku, Haaland

Subs: Trafford, Bettinelli, Ake, Kovacic, Nico, Savinho, Nunes, Bobb, Mukasa, Lewis

MONACO XI: Kohn, Vanderson, Dier, Kehrer (C), Salisu, Diatta, Teze, Coulibaly, Fati, Akliouche, Balogun

Subs: Stawiecki, Lienard, Henrique, Biereth, Idumbo, Minamino, Ilenikhena, Ouattara, Cabral

WATCH: Guardiola salutes 'extraordinary' Bernardo ahead of Monaco reunion

Tactics

Gianluigi Donnarumma's goal will be guarded by a back four of John Stones, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and Nico O'Reilly.

Rodri sits at the base of the midfield, with Tijjani Reijnders more progressive ahead of him.

It remains to be seen whether Bernardo Silva or Phil Foden are in the middle, with the other likely to perform on the right wing.

Jeremy Doku will no doubt be on the left in support of central striker Erling Haaland.

A long time coming

This is our first trip to Monaco since Pep Guardiola's first season at City, when the Catalan was in the midst of a rebuild.

Monaco, meanwhile, boasted several incredible young talents at that time including our very own Bernardo Silva and now Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappe.

We won a true classic 5-3 at the Etihad before our opponents were 3-1 victors at the Stade Louis II to progress on away goals.

That tie, as the whole season, meant a lot to Bernardo. With so much water under the bridge since, our captain is delighted to be back at a different stage of his career.

WATCH: Bernardo relishing Monaco return ahead of Champions League clash

Match stats

The only previous competitive meetings between Monaco and Manchester City came in the last 16 of the 2016/17 UEFA Champions League, with the French side progressing on away goals following a 6-6 aggregate scoreline (won 3-1 at home, lost 5-3 away).

Monaco have only lost one of their seven home matches against English sides in the UEFA Champions League (W5 D1), with their lone defeat coming against Arsenal in March 2015 (0-2). They have won all three that have taken place in the group/league phase: 1-0 v Liverpool in 2004/05, 2-1 v Tottenham in 2016/17 and 1-0 v Aston Villa in 2024/25.

Pep Guardiola has only lost two of his 33 matches taking place in the opening two rounds of a UEFA Champions League campaign (MD1 and MD2), winning 26 of those (D5). Those two defeats did come against French sides, however, losing against Lyon in 2018-19 and Paris SG in 2021-22.

Since starting the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League campaign on a four match unbeaten run (W3 D1), Monaco have only won one of their last seven matches in the competition (D1 L5). Three of their five defeats in this period have been by 3+ goals, including their most recent match (1-4 v Club Brugge).

Erling Haaland’s previous match for Manchester City in this competition saw him become the fastest player to 50 goals in the UEFA Champions League (49 appearances). Among the 10 players with 50+ Champions League goals, however, only Raúl (31%) has scored a lower percentage in away matches than Haaland (32% - 34 at home, 16 away).

Despite being on the losing side in Monaco’s heavy defeat to Club Brugge in this season’s UEFA Champions League opener (1-4), Lamine Camara was the top ranked player across both sides for line-breaking passes (15), possession won (10) and tackles (4).

In what was his first UEFA Champions League outing in precisely one year (since September 2024 v Inter), Manchester City’s Rodri made 17 line-breaking passes against Napoli last time out; the second most by any midfielder across this season’s opening round (after Pedri – 20 v Newcastle).

Phil Foden created eight chances in Manchester City’s previous UEFA Champions League game (v Napoli); the most by a player in his team’s opening game of a single edition since Shakhtar Donetsk’s Maycon in 2021-22 (eight v Sheriff Tiraspol).