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#4 Monaco
Monaco may lie second in Ligue 1 as the halfway stage of the season rapidly approaches, but it is on the European scene that Leonardo Jardim’s side have really served to disappoint this season. With five matches of the Champions League played, they are not only out, but have been so far off the pace that they will not even take part in the Europa League after the winter break.
Wednesday’s 4-1 destruction at home by RB Leipzig was a chastening defeat and shows how far Monaco have fallen from the team that reached the semi-finals in such explosive fashion last season.
Unsurprisingly, it is a defeat that has not been taken well in France, where their European campaign has been described widely as a “fiasco”.
“We made individual mistakes. That's why we've been knocked out,” Polish centre-back Kamil Glik said.
“It's not just because players left in the close season, even if that explains a lot of it because we lost five starters. We can't look for excuses and now we have to focus on the league to ensure that we're back in the UEFA Champions League next season.”
Regardless of the players who have left the principality over the last six months, Jardim’s side should be much, much better than the fare they have produced so far this season, when only Radamel Falcao and Rony Lopes have hit an acceptable level.
