Monaco vs Benfica facts

Monaco put their unbeaten UEFA Champions League record on the line again on Matchday 5 with a visit from a Benfica team looking to recapture their early-season form.

The French side have won three of their first four matches, most recently 1-0 at Bologna; they have also drawn 2-2 at GNK Dinamo and won both home games, 2-1 against Barcelona and 5-1 against Crvena Zvezda.

Benfica kicked off with wins at Crvena Zvezda (2-1) and at home to Atlético de Madrid (4-0) but have since lost 1-3 at home to Feyenoord and 0-1 at Bayern München on Matchday 4.

Previous meetings

2014/15 Champions League group stage
Monaco 0-0 Benfica
Benfica 1-0 Monaco
After a goalless draw at the Stade Louis II on Matchday 3 – a game Benfica ended with ten men after Lisandro López's 76th-minute red card – Talisca scored the only goal in Lisbon with eight minutes remaining to give Benfica what proved their only win of the campaign.

Form guide

Monaco

Record vs Portuguese clubs: W2 D3 L6 F10 A21
Home record vs Portuguese clubs: W2 D2 L1

Monaco last faced a team from Portugal in the 2021/22 UEFA Europa League round of 16, losing 3-1 on aggregate to Braga (0-2 a, 1-1 h).

That made it seven matches without a win against Portuguese teams (D2 L5), since a 3-2 home victory against Sporting CP in the 1997/98 Champions League group stage.

That was Monaco's second home game against Portuguese visitors and a second win having beaten Belenenses 3-0 in the 1989/90 European Cup Winners' Cup first round; their record since is D2 L1 with only one goal scored and four conceded.

Monaco lost 3-0 to Porto in the 2004 Champions League final at the Arena AufSchalke in Germany.

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

Monaco have lost twice in Champions League qualifying since that last group stage 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 was Monaco's most recent in European football before 2024/25. Having lost to PSV, they moved across to the Europa League group stage, finishing second in their section, before 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 six home European games, losing the other two.

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

Benfica

Record vs French clubs: W17 D10 L9 F44 A34
Away record vs French clubs: W4 D5 L9

Benfica lost 1-0 at Marseille in last season's Europa League quarter-final second leg and subsequently went out 4-2 on penalties after a 2-2 aggregate draw.

The 2-1 win in the home first leg had made it five games unbeaten against Ligue 1 clubs (W2 D3); the second-leg loss was just Benfica's second in 11 versus French teams (W5 D4).

A 3-2 victory at Bordeaux in the 2012/13 Europa League round of 16 second leg – completing a 4-2 aggregate success – is Benfica's only win in their last nine away games against French clubs (D4 L4).

This is Benfica's 19th appearance in the Champions League proper, and a 14th in the last 15 seasons.

The Eagles reached successive quarter-finals in 2021/22 and 2022/23 but were unable to progress to the knockout rounds last season, finishing third in Group D behind Real Sociedad and Inter Milan.

A side coached by Roger Schmidt side beat Toulouse (2-1 aggregate) and Rangers (3-2 agg) to reach the Europa League quarter-finals, where Marseille ended their run.

Benfica have suffered only six losses in their last 26 European games outside Lisbon (W11 D9) although four of those defeats have come in the last eight.

European champions in 1961 and 1962, Benfica have lost in five other European Cup finals, most recently in 1990.

The Lisbon club were second to local rivals Sporting CP in the 2023/24 Portuguese Liga.

Benfica parted company with Schmidt on 31 August, reappointing Bruno Lage, who was previously in charge between January 2019 and July 2020, as his replacement.

Links and trivia

Have played in France:
Issa Kaboré (Troyes 2021/22 loan, Marseille 2022/23 loan)
Florentino (Monaco 2020/21 loan)
Renato Sanches (LOSC Lille 2019–22, Paris Saint-Germain 2022/23)
Ángel Di María (Paris Saint-Germain 2015–22)

Di María's record against Monaco with Paris was W11 D2 L3 with six goals and eight assists. He scored one and set up two in a 4-1 victory in the 2017 Coupe de la Ligue final and was also on target in Paris's 3-0 final victory 12 months later.

Di María scored both goals in Benfica's 2-1 victory against Toulouse in last season's Europa League knockout round play-off first leg, the second a penalty after he had been fouled by Christian Mawissa, who was sent off for the challenge.

Have played together:
Radosław Majecki, Caio Henrique, Aleksandr Golovin, Eliot Matazo, Krépin Diatta & Florentino (Monaco 2020/21)
Thilo Kehrer & Ángel Di María (Paris Saint-Germain 2018–22)
Denis Zakaria & Ángel Di María (Juventus 2022)

International team-mates:
Philipp Kohn, Denis Zakaria, Breel Embolo & Zeki Amdouni (Switzerland)

Latest news

Monaco

Monaco have won eight of their 12 Ligue 1 matches this season (D2 L2), scoring 21 goals and conceding ten. They were 3-2 victors at home to Brest on Friday, Maghnes Akliouche scoring twice.

Monaco's Ligue 1 record in 2024 is W18 D6 L5. Only Paris Saint-Germain, with 20, have won more games.

Eliesse Ben Seghir scored twice in a 3-1 victory in Strasbourg on 9 November.

On 15 November Takumi Minamino scored in Japan's 4-0 FIFA World Cup qualifying victory against Indonesia.

Denis Zakaria played 90 minutes on Friday having been out since damaging an adductor in the warm-up before a 2-1 loss in Nice on 27 October.

Ghana's Mohammed Salisu limped off against Sudan on 15 October, returning to play 90 minutes against Brest.

Krépin Diatta missed Friday's game with adductor pains.

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

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

Benfica

The Eagles were 7-0 winners at home to Estrela da Amadora in the Portuguese Cup fourth round on Saturday, Ángel Di María scoring three goals and Arthur Cabral two in what was Benfica's biggest victory since 27 November 2021.

Benfica have won their last six Portuguese Liga games, Di María scoring twice in a 4-1 defeat of Porto on 10 November. That was the first time in 60 years the Eagles had scored four at home to their great rivals.

Zeki Amdouni scored Switzerland's goal in a 1-1 UEFA Nations League draw at home to Serbia on 15 November.

Leandro Barreiro started Luxembourg's 2-2 draw against Northern Ireland on 18 November, his first appearance since 19 October due to a thigh injury.

Tomás Araújo made his Portugal debut in a 1-1 draw in Croatia on 18 November but was replaced during the second half after damaging his thigh in a collision. He was an unused substitute on Saturday.

Alexander Bah left Denmark's camp early having suffered a thigh problem but started for Benfica at the weekend.

Gianluca Prestianni has been out with a thigh injury since early October, while Tiago Gouveia is recovering from shoulder surgery in August.