Cercle Brugge vs Monaco

Jan Breydel Stadium is the venue as Cercle Brugge and Monaco square off in a tasty-looking exhibition match.

Cercle Brugge missed out on European qualification last season, finishing eight points behind 5th-placed Gent despite signing off with back-to-back victories over Westerlo and Standard Liege by an aggregate score of 6-0. But their summer campaign has started with a whimper rather than a bang, as they’ve drawn a blank in both friendlies against Dender and Servette (D1, L1). Though Cercle Brugge’s attacking performances in July leave a lot to be desired, manager Miron Muslic can be proud of his team’s defensive effort after overseeing three clean sheets in his last four matches. The Belgians’ defensive resilience will be put to the test by a Monaco side that has beaten them in all five previous summer friendlies.

Not only did Monaco win all five historic H2Hs against Cercle Brugge, but they also netted multiple goals in four. That should guarantee a long-overdue success for the out-of-sorts French side as they take the winless in their last five matches (D2, L3). Newly-appointed manager Adi Hutter barely avoided defeat on his touchline debut, with ‘Les Monégasques’ overcoming a halftime deficit to hold another Belgian team Royale Union SG to a 1-1 draw in their opening summer friendly. However, Monaco’s growing scoring problems, which have seen them bag under 1.5 goals in seven of their last eight outings, remain a subject of discussion. Additionally, they’ve lost three of their four most recent games away from home (W1), failing to find the net in two.