The Ligue 1 outfit came from nowhere to be the talk of European football on their way to the semi-finals, led by their uber-talented teenage forward
Monaco have a strange relationship with the Champions League. Far from perennial qualifiers, they have still enjoyed plenty of memorable runs through Europe's premier club competition, most notably when they reached the final in 2004 before losing out to Jose Mourinho's Porto. They have also made it to the semi-finals on three occasions since the tournament rebranded in the early 1990s, but none of their continental campaigns have captured the imagination quite like their journey to the final four in 2017.
Led by manager Leonardo Jardim, Monaco bewitched fans around the globe with their high-octane style of football, as a number of previously little-known players became household names almost overnight, leading to inevitable transfer interest from the world's richest clubs. Though they eventually missed out on the final, losing to Juventus in the semis, Monaco – who also won Ligue 1 at Paris Saint-Germain's expense – were the talk of the European game after knocking out Pep Guardiola's Manchester City and Thomas Tuchel's Borussia Dortmund.
Of course, the star of that team was then-teenager Kylian Mbappe, who emerged as a fully-formed attacking superstar and set about tearing defences apart with his blistering pace and unerring finishing ability. He scored six goals in nine Champions League appearances that season before joining PSG at the end of the campaign, with the French superstar's exit the first domino to fall in what would be a dramatic fall from grace for Les Monegasques.
Monaco would fail to win any of their subsequent 12 matches in the Champions League over the course of the next two seasons before enduring a six-year absence from the competition proper until securing a place in the 2024-25 league phase, where they are in a strong position to qualify for the knockout rounds ahead of their penultimate game against Aston Villa on Tuesday.
Mbappe, meanwhile, has gone from strength to strength, and while he is still waiting to lift his first European Cup as he begins to round into form after a shaky start for new club Real Madrid, many of his team-mates from that memorable Monaco side of 2017 have not enjoyed the same levels of success. But where are they now? GOAL has everything you need to know:
AFPDanijel Subasic
Veteran goalkeeper Subasic surpassed 200 appearances for Monaco over the course of the 2016-17 campaign, during which he was voted Ligue 1 Goalkeeper of the Year. He did, however, only keep one clean sheet during the club's Champions League run, though that was in part due to the front-foot style Jardim opted to play in front of him.
Subasic remained Monaco's No.1 through the following season and starred for Croatia during their run to the 2018 World Cup final, but that proved to be the beginning of the end of the shot-stopper's career at the highest level. He began to pick up injuries through the 2018-19 campaign and eventually fell out of favour, which led to him departing the Stade Louis II in the summer of 2020.
Subasic spent a year out of the game before re-joining former club Hajduk Split, where he served as a back-up for two seasons prior to announcing his retirement in 2023. He is now working as the goalkeeping coach for the Croatia national team.
AdvertisementAFPDjibril Sidibe
Sidibe had arrived at Monaco as a €15 million signing from Lille in the summer of 2016 and soon began to catch the eye as a marauding right-back who was capable of creating chances with regularity. His form both in Ligue 1 and the Champions League led to interest from Arsenal, while he also forced his way into the France national team.
The defender was part of Didier Deschamps' squad as they triumphed at the 2018 World Cup, but his form for Monaco began to slide, and he eventually departed in the summer of 2019 on loan to Everton. Sidibe struggled to establish himself in the Premier League, however, and the Toffees did not take up the option to buy him on a permanent basis.
After six years at Stade Louis II, Sidibe was released by Monaco in the summer of 2022 and joined AEK Athens on a free transfer. Over the course of two campaigns, he struggled to hold down a regular starting role, and left the club last summer. Now 32, he is back in Ligue 1 having joined Toulouse ahead of the 2024-25 campaign.
AFPJemerson
One of the less heralded members of Monaco's 2016-17 squad, centre-back Jemerson made a number of key contributions over the course of the campaign having arrived in January 2016 from Atletico Mineiro, and the principality club even rejected an offer from Roma for the Brazilian at the end of his first full campaign in Europe.
However, that was as good as it got for Jemerson, who made his Brazil debut off the back of Monaco's Champions League run, as he soon began to fall down the pecking order over the seasons that followed and eventually had his contract terminated in November 2020. He has since spent time with Corinthians, Metz, back at Atletico Mineiro and is now plying his trade for Gremio in his homeland.
AFPAndrea Raggi
At 32, Raggi was one of Monaco's veteran leaders during their memorable European run. Previously a journeyman in Italian football, he found a home at Stade Louis II having joined the club while they were in the second division in 2012, and while he was rarely a starter in Ligue 1 for the eventual champions in 2016-17, he was named in the line up on 12 occasions in Europe over the course of the campaign.
Raggi remained a rotational option until he was released by 2019, with that proving to be his final act in the professional game as he failed to find another club before announcing his retirement.
