Bologna vs Monaco facts

Bologna will again attempt to achieve their first UEFA Champions League victory on Matchday 4 at home to Monaco, who are unbeaten in this season's competition.

While the Italian debutants have been unable to add to the point from their opening 0-0 draw at home to Shakhtar Donetsk, losing 2-0 in England at both Liverpool and Aston Villa, Monaco have won both home games in the league phase, 2-1 against Barcelona and 5-1 against Crvena Zvezda, either side of a 2-2 draw at GNK Dinamo.

This is the sides' first meeting, and Bologna's first game against French opponents in the 21st century.

Form guide

Bologna 

Record vs French clubs: W1 D2 L1 F4 A3
Home record vs French clubs: W1 D1 L0

Bologna's four previous games against Ligue 1 opponents all came in the 1998/99 UEFA Cup. Having beat Lyon 3-2 on aggregate in the quarter-finals (3-0 h, 0-2 a), they lost on away goals to Marseille in the next round (0-0 a, 1-1 h).

This is Bologna's first Champions League campaign. They are the 11th Italian side to appear in the competition proper and the first newcomers since Atalanta in 2019/20.

Their only previous European Cup campaign lasted a single tie, Bologna losing on a coin toss to Anderlecht in the 1964/65 preliminary round (0-1 a, 2-1 h, 0-0 play-off).

Bologna are one of five clubs to be making their Champions League debuts in 2024/25, along with Brest, Aston Villa, Girona and Slovan Bratislava.

Bologna have not featured in European competition since losing a UEFA Intertoto Cup final to Fulham in August 2002 (2-2 h, 1-3 a).

The Italian side have never lost at home in UEFA competition, winning 15 of their 24 fixtures.

Champions of Italy seven times – most recently in 1964 – Bologna were fifth in Serie A in 2023/24, setting a new club record of 68 points. It was their highest finish since 1966/67, when they were third.

Thiago Motta, in charge since September 2022, left for Juventus in the summer. Vincenzo Italiano, after guiding Fiorentina to the UEFA Europa Conference League final in each of the last two seasons, was named as his replacement.

Monaco

Record vs Italian clubs: W3 D3 L9 F11 A25
Away record vs Italian clubs: W0 D1 L7

Monaco have not faced a Serie A side since losing 0-2 at home and 1-2 away to Juventus in the 2016/17 Champions League semi-finals.

Les Monégasques' last six games against Italian opponents have all been against Juve, with four defeats and a single victory.

Monaco have lost seven of their eight games away to Italian sides, including each of the last five, scoring only three goals in those eight matches – and never more than once in a fixture.

This is Monaco's tenth appearance in the Champions League proper and a first since 2018/19.

Runners-up to Porto in 2003/04, Monaco have lost twice in Champions League qualifying since that last group appearance, going out to Shakhtar Donetsk in the 2021/22 play-offs (2-3 aggregate) and PSV Eindhoven in the third qualifying round a year later (3-4 agg).

That 2022/23 campaign is Monaco's most recent in European football. Having lost to PSV, they moved across to the Europa League, losing to Bayer Leverkusen in the knockout round play-offs (3-2 a, 2-3 h aet, 3-5 pens).

Les Monégasques have won four of their last 19 away European matches (D8 L7) but two of the last five (D2 L1).

Adi Hütter's side sealed a return to the Champions League proper by finishing second in Ligue 1 in 2023/24. It was Monaco's highest final league placing since 2017/18, when they were also runners-up to Paris Saint-Germain

Links and trivia

Have played together:
Christian Mawissa & Thijs Dallinga (Toulouse 2022–24)
Wilfried Singo & Tommaso Pobega (Torino (2021/22)
Samuel Iling-Junior & Dennis Zakaria (Juventus 2022)
Wilfried Singo & Lorenzo De Silvestri (Torino 2019/20)
Michel Aebischer & Dennis Zakaria (Young Boys 2016/17)

Hütter coached Aebischer at Young Boys between 2016 and 2018.

Have played in France:
Thijs Dallinga (Toulouse 2022–24)
Wilfried Singo (Torino 2019–23)
Dan Ndoye (Nice 2020–21)

Has played in Italy:
Denis Zakaria (Juventus 2022)

International team-mates:
Remo Freuler, Dan Ndoye & Breel Embolo, Denis Zakaria (Switzerland)
Oussama El Azzouzi & Eliesse Ben Seghir (Morocco)
Thijs Dallinga & Jordan Teze (Netherlands)
Łukasz Skorupski, Kacper Urbanski & Radosław Majecki (Poland)

Latest news

Bologna

On Saturday a late Riccardo Orsolini goal earned a 1-0 home victory against Lecce; it was the third successive Serie A match in which he had found the net.

That was Bologna's third win of the season in all competitions (D7 L3). They have, however, lost only once in Serie A (W3 D6).

Bologna's home game against AC Milan, scheduled for 26 October, was postponed due to flooding and will now be played in February.

On 29 October goals from Orsolini and Jens Odgaard, who had both also scored in a 2-2 draw at Genoa in Bologna's previous Serie A game, earned a 2-0 victory at Cagliari.

Orsolini's goal at Cagliari made it 29 away Serie A strikes – equalling Giuseppe Signori's Bologna record from the 1994/95 campaign onwards.

Bologna have now scored at least two goals in four consecutive away games in Serie A for the first time since 2004.

Lewis Ferguson was a late substitute on Saturday having not played since 13 April, when he underwent knee surgery on a ligament injury.

Charalampos Lykogiannis has missed the last two game with a knock.

Michel Aebischer and Martin Erlić have both been out with thigh injuries since 15 October.

Monaco

Monaco were beaten 0-1 at home by Angers on Friday, the first time they had lost successive matches since three defeats in a row at the end of 2022/23.

On 27 October Monaco suffered their first loss of the season in all competitions, going down 2-1 at local rivals Nice.

Monaco have won six of their ten Ligue 1 matches this season (D2 L2), scoring 15 goals and conceding seven.

Monaco's Ligue 1 record in 2024 is W16 D6 L5. Only Paris Saint-Germain, with 18, have won more games.

Folarin Balogun was ruled out for two months after dislocating his left shoulder in a 2-1 victory at Rennes on 5 October.

Denis Zakaria missed the defeat at Nice after damaging an adductor in the warm-up and was also absent on Friday.

Ghana's Mohammed Salisu limped off against Sudan on 15 October and has not played since.

Edan Diop has not played this season due to a stress fracture in his foot.