Monaco v Juventus: Even Serie A giants can’t stop Falcao and Mbappe
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They weren’t fancied to beat Manchester City, and they weren’t fancied to beat Borussia Dortmund.
But here Monaco stand in the semi-finals of the Champions League, and it’s time to take them seriously.
In al fairness, we’ve been talking up the French outfit for months now, but our traders still make them 2/1 outsiders to win this first-leg clash with Juventus.
The Italian giants – favourites at 29/20 – may have shutout Barcelona over 180 minutes, but we’re right on board with the Kylian Mbappe and co at those odds.
For starters, Monaco haven’t failed to score at Stade Louis II since November 2015, bagging 124 goals in 43 competitive games since then.
That’s a whopping 2.8 goals per game over an 18-month period.
Then there’s Juve’s away record, which really isn’t great of late.
Yes they hung on for a 0-0 at the Nou Camp, but the Old Lady have won just two of their last seven games outside of Turin.
You can get 17/4 on Monaco to win and both teams to score, as has happened in each of their last five victories in all competitions.
Over 2.5 goals looks assured at 20/23, while over 3.5 must be considered at 11/5 given the attacking quality on show.
Radamel Falcao and Gonzalo Higuain share the favouritism for first goalscorer at
4/1, but it’s the men behind them who are worth investigation.
Paulo Dybala – touted by many as the next Lionel Messi – came good on those claims with a superb double versus Barcelona in the last eight, and is 11/2 to break the deadlock as he did against the Catalan side.
But the main man right now is Kylian Mbappe. The 18-year-old wonderkid scored in both legs against Man City and Dortmund, and is on 24 for the campaign.
The most sought-after striker on the continent is 6/1 to score first and 2/1 anytime.
