Monaco vs Manchester City Prediction 01.10.2025 | UEFA Champions League

Thanks to their third-place finish in Ligue 1 last season, AS Monaco will compete in the expanded UEFA Champions League for the second year in a row, aiming at least to match last season’s achievement when they progressed through the League Phase before falling to Benfica in the intermediate round.

However, their mission to progress in the opening stage suffered a heavy setback right from the start, as the Principality club endured a humiliating 4-1 defeat to Club Brugge in Belgium, and the outcome might have been very different had star player Akliouche not missed a penalty in the 10th minute.

Accordingly, Adi Hutter and his squad will need to respond quickly if they hope for anything, but their motivation might be low as they host English giants Manchester City, having just been beaten 3-1 by a struggling Lorient over the weekend.

Monaco’s defensive performance also raises concerns ahead of their clash with the deadly attack of the Citizens, as their goal has been breached in every match since the start of the 2025–26 campaign, conceding a total of 14 goals in seven games.

Manager Adi Hutter faces a long list of unavailable players for Wednesday’s UCL matchday two, but there’s hope as French midfielder Paul Pogba could finally make his debut after focusing on his fitness.

The winners of the 2022-23 campaign, Manchester City, faced their weakest season under Pep Guardiola last year, struggling particularly in the Champions League, where they barely made it into the last 24 before being knocked out in the play-offs by record winners Real Madrid.

Still, their opening match of the new UCL season showed that Guardiola’s men are hungry and determined to correct last season’s mistakes, while Di Lorenzo’s early red card in the 21st minute helped them make a flying start, which City cleverly took advantage of to claim a routine 2-0 victory over Serie A champions Napoli.

After a successful start to their UCL campaign, the Citizens kept the momentum going on the domestic front, first playing out a 1-1 draw with Arsenal at the Emirates before recording back-to-back wins, beating Huddersfield 2-0 in the EFL Cup opener and delivering a 5-1 demolition of Burnley during the EPL weekend action.

Buoyed by an excellent run of form in all competitions, Manchester City hope to continue their perfect Champions League campaign, but their recent away outings in this competition tell a different story, having fallen to defeat in each of their last four trips and conceding a worrying total of 13 goals.

Rayan Ait-Nouri and Abdukodir Khusanov have been ruled out of Wednesday’s clash, while Rodri, Rayan Cherki, and Omar Marmoush remain doubtful as they battle various injuries ahead of the Monaco encounter.