Leicester City’s incredible run to last season’s Premier League title looked like a once in a generation surprise but just one year later Monaco is completing a campaign that has been almost as miraculous.
Monaco last shocked the football world in 2003 by reaching the Champions League final a season after it had finished second in Ligue 1. Since then the club has lost a host of its top players along with several directors and a large chunk of its funding. Known as a “nice club”, Monaco struggled to find the passion off the pitch that would match its actions on the pitch. PSG’s increasing dominance has often meant that the French league title race has been finished before Christmas.
PSG has spent endlessly while Monaco and the rest of the league have failed to keep up. As each season passed PSG seemed to be sucking the life out of the competition by developing better talent and quickly signing any player who showed potential at other clubs.
The tide turned in 2016. Ibrahimovic left PSG, robbing the side of the one player who had regularly dragged them out of sticky situations. And 800 miles south of Paris, Monaco was on the rise with a side of young players who were far from household names. In a throwback to the days when Arsene Wenger first arrived in management, Monaco’s young players were getting a chance to break through. The youth system at Monaco has long managed to create stars but over the years the club has tended to sell most of that talent. This season the club has found the right balance.
Monaco’s current side boasts an average age of 24.7 in comparison to PSG’s average of 28.9. Why is that important? The average distance covered in each game by a player from the Ligue 1 leader has been 11.6 km, whereas the average PSG player has run 10.3 km per game. Over the course of the season Monaco has consistently outrun its opponents, while PSG players have tended to slow down as a game unfolds (PSG has lost more points from winning positions than Monaco).
The performances of Monaco’s dynamic duo Radamel Falcao and Kylian Mbappe sum up Monaco’s title charge. Falcao, 31, and Mbappe, 19, have produced a blend of power, speed and experience that has been enhanced by the younger man’s lack of fear. Mbappe’s youth seems to have given him the confidence to try anything that comes to his mind, and the youngster’s guile has complemented the natural goal scoring style of his Columbian teammate. While Falcao was an expensive signing Mbappe was a product of the club’s youth program, and Monaco has similar combinations all over the field.
The Wenger policy that hasn’t worked for the Gunners seems to be working at his old club in France, giving Monaco its first Ligue 1 title since 1999 and a place in the Champions League semi-finals.
Can the French side now keep hold of its young superstars as bigger clubs try to swoop in the summer ahead?
by Nubaid Haroon YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCtMg-fWm7awR41vM1GhVOkA Twitter: twitter.com/rambofyi
The post Football: The Stunning Monaco Fairy Tale appeared first on Felix Magazine.
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