Monaco
The Arsenal boss made his managerial name at Monaco back in the day, 1987 to 1994 if we’re being precise. It quickly became apparent that Wenger had that Riviera touch: he guided the club to a league championship in 1988 after signing Glenn Hoddle, Mark Hateley and Patrick Battiston, and added a cup in 1991, George Weah the star man by then. A side featuring youthful versions of Emmanuel Petit, Youri Djorkaeff and Lilian Thuram reached the final of the 1992 Cup Winners Cup. The French national team and Bayern Munich came sniffing around, but Wenger stayed loyal. Much good it did him: he was sacked after a slow start to the 1994/95 season, with the club in 17th place.
Wenger re-emerged at Nagoya Grampus Eight a year later, though Arsenal were keeping tabs on his career. Here’s a highly sympathetic take on Wenger’s sacking by Monaco in the Highbury club’s programme for a game against Crystal Palace in October 1994 (many thanks, in the form of a hat tip, to Karris Evans for unearthing the programme, sponsored by JVC, leaders in video and hi-fi, £1.50).
Monaco sacked coach Arsene Wenger because of their poor start to the season - a sad reward for the loyalty exhibited by the coach.. Not only had Wenger been with the club seven years - winning both the French championship and the cup in that time - but earlier this year he had rejected offers to manage the French national team then top German club Bayern Munich. On both occasions Wenger said he felt it would be immoral to walk out on his contract. However, club president Jean-Louis Campora clearly was not in such an honourable mood, saying: “Because of the club’s situation and because of our recent results, I was left to put an end to Arsene Wenger’s functions.”Wenger - who of course was eventually snaffled by Arsenal, subsequently becoming the most successful manager in the club’s history - will be hoping to put an end to Monaco’s functions this evening. This is Arsenal’s 15th consecutive appearance in the last 16, though they’ve fallen at this hurdle in each of the last four campaigns. But those defeats were at the hands of Barcelona, Milan and Bayern Munich (twice). Monaco by comparison are less accomplished at this level of late, reaching this stage for the first time in a decade. And Arsenal are in the better form since the end of this season’s group stage, with 11 wins from 14 matches as opposed to Monaco’s nine from 14.
But Arsenal can’t take Monaco lightly. There are danger signs. For a start, despite Arsenal’s better recent record in the competition, the clubs have identical histories overall: one final reached (2006 and 2004 respectively), one final lost. Monaco had the best defensive record of the group stage, conceding just the one goal (though they only scored four). They’ve lost just the once on English soil, to Liverpool in the 2004/05 groups. Their last, and indeed only, competitive trip to London saw them claw back a two-goal deficit at Chelsea to make it to the 2004 final. They beat Arsenal in a pre-season friendly. And there is simply no predicting what former Spurs striker Dimitar Berbatov might do.
This is Wenger’s first competitive match-up with his former club. He’ll be desperate to enjoy it. This promises to be a fascinating encounter. It’s on! Oh, and Palace beat Arsenal 2-1, a couple of first-half goals from John Salako, Ian Wright with the late consolation.
Kick off: 7.45pm at the Emirates, 8.45pm on the Riviera.