Europa League 2023 Leverkusen vs Monaco, facts and statistics | UEFA Europa League

Two former UEFA Champions League finalists meet in the UEFA Europa League play-offs as Bayer Leverkusen face Monaco for the seventh time in European competition.

Leverkusen enjoyed a 2022/23 UEFA Champions League campaign to forget, failing to find points in four of their six Group B games, but qualified for the UEFA Europa League in third place with five points at the expense of Atletico de Madrid. “Monaco” finished level on points with the group winner Ferencvaros in the UEFA Europa League Group H, which was fought in a tough situation, and took the second place.

Previous meetings

Six previous meetings between the clubs took place in the UEFA Champions League group stage. Monaco were unbeaten in their first five matches of the 2016/17 season with three wins before losing 3-0 in their last encounter at the BayArena in the sixth round of the 2016/17 season, although the French club had already topped the group and would continue to do so. semi-final that season.

Monaco was also a semi-finalist in the 1997/98 season, the first time the clubs met. It was Leverkusen’s first campaign in the UEFA Champions League and the first away game was a 4–0 defeat at Stade Louis II. However, the Germans drew 2:2 at home and both teams advanced to the quarter-finals with 13 points.

The two sides also went deep when they met in 2014/15, with Monaco winning both meetings 1-0 to lead the group with 11 points, one point behind Leverkusen.

It is interesting that in the three seasons that Monaco and Leverkusen teams met, not only both teams left the group, but the French club always had their hopes dashed by being eliminated from the competition with Juventus.

Leverkusen’s overall record against the French is 8 wins, 4 draws and 7 losses. The home record is 6 wins, 1 draw and 3 defeats, including 5 out of 5 wins in the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Cup, the first victory being a 1–0 success against Toulouse in the second round of the 1987 season. 88, last 6-2 against Nice in 1st leg of 2020/21 group stage.

Monaco’s record against German opposition in UEFA competitions is 9 wins, 6 draws and 7 losses. There are 4 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses on the trip.

“Monaco” won both games of the UEFA Cup held in Germany. Although he has not won in his last three trips to Germany (1 draw, 2 losses), this is the first time he is there in the UEFA Europa League.

About the teams

Leverkusen

Winners of the UEFA Cup in 1988 and Champions League winners to Real Madrid in 2002, Leverkusen finished third in the Bundesliga in the 2021/22 season, their best league finish since the 2015/16 season, securing their 13th appearance in the UEFA Champions League group stage. . Last season, Ruhr players took first place in the UEFA Europa League group, but lost to Atalanta (2-3 away, 0-1 at home) in the round of 16.

This season, the Werkself failed to get out of the UEFA Champions League group stage for the third time in four seasons, losing 0-1 at home to Club Brugge in the 1st leg and twice to Porto (0-2 away, 0-3 at home). ). Taking four points from Atletico (2-0 at home, 2-2 away), the Germans were out of the competition after five matches and only managed to get rid of the red light on the sixth day. when they tied 0-0. At home, Belgian champion Atletico was defeated in Portugal.

Leverkusen are familiar with the UEFA Europa League play-offs, having previously appeared there seven times. They have lost four times, including in each of the last two seasons, with their best performance coming in 2019/20 when they reached the quarter-finals, losing 2-1 to Inter Milan at a neutral venue in Düsseldorf.

Leverkusen have lost their last three UEFA Europa League play-off matches in Germany and have won just one of their last four European matches at the BayArena, failing to score in the other three (1 L2).

Leverkusen’s overall record at home in UEFA Europa League play-off matches: 4 wins, 2 draws and 4 losses.

Monaco

Third in Ligue 1 for the second consecutive season in 2021/22, 17 points behind champions Paris Saint-Germain, Monaco have dropped back to the group stage of this year’s UEFA Europa League after losing their tie for third. UEFA Champions League Qualifiers PSV Eindhoven vs. overtime (1-1 home, 2-3 away).

The princely side were also beaten in extra time by Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Champions League play-offs last season, and are therefore participating in the UEFA Europa League for the third time since the 2015/16 season. they finished the group stage and last season unbeaten with 12 points and were defeated by Braga in the round of 16 (0-2 away, 1-1 at home).

Unlike the three domestic champions, the Princes found the group stage easier this year, although opening and closing wins against Red Star (1-0 away, 4-1 at home) proved enough to finish second behind Ferencvaros. , against whom they collected only one point (0-1 at home, 1-1 away), but above Trabzonspor (3-1 at home, 0-4 away).

Monaco’s 1-0 opening matchday win in Belgrade is one of just two wins for the club in their last 14 European away matches outside of qualifying (6B). In the European play-offs, the Monegasques have lost four of their last five away matches, with the exception of a 3-2 victory over Germany’s Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of the 2016/17 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.

We know each other…

Monaco’s German striker Kevin Volland, who scored a hat-trick against Crvena zvezda in the J6, joined the club in 2020 after spending four seasons at Leverkusen, where he scored 50 goals in 148 appearances in all competitions. He spent four years in the Bundesliga with Hoffenheim, having previously started his career in the second division with 1860 Munich.

Another German footballer of “Monaco”, goalkeeper Alexander Nübel, spent his second season on loan at “Bayern” club. Before joining “Bayern” in 2020, he spent 5 seasons in “Schalke” and played in 46 Bundesliga games.

Senegalese Monaco international Ismail Jacobs was born in Germany and spent two seasons in the Bundesliga with hometown club Cologne before joining the Principality in 2021.

Swiss international Breel Embolo spent six years in Germany, three at Schalke and three at Borussia Mönchengladbach, scoring a total of 32 Bundesliga goals before joining Monaco last summer.

Leverkusen’s French forward Moussa Diaby joined Bayer Leverkusen in 2019 after one season at Paris Saint-Germain, where he won the Ligue 1 title. He plays or has played for the France team alongside Monaco’s Wissam Ben Yedder, Youssouf Fofana and Ruben Aguilar.

Another Frenchman who appeared in the ranks of Leverkusen is Amine Adli. He joined from Toulouse in 2021 after helping the club to promotion to Ligue 1.

Dutch left-back Mitchel Bakker is another former Paris Saint-Germain player for Leverkusen and Ligue 1 champions (2019-21).

Charles Aranquiz (Leverkusen) and Guillermo Maripan (Monaco), Andrey Lunev and Alexander Golovin (Russia), Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Myron Boadu (Netherlands) are teammates in the national team (Chile). Volland and two Leverkusen players, Jonathan Tah and Florian Wirtz, also played in Germany.

“Leverkusen” coach Xabi Alonso scored both goals in Spain’s 2-0 victory over France in the 1/4 finals of UEFA EURO-2012, which his country won.