AS Monaco vice-president Vadim Vasilyev has admitted that the Club of the Principality have received a tough Champions League draw, but is counting on the support of the club’s fans.
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Monaco secured progress to the Champions League final eight with a tight Last 16 victory over Arsenal in the last round. Having beaten the Gunners 3-1 at the Emirates Stadium, they succumbed to a 2-0 defeat at home but advanced on away goals.
The Monegasques are also going strong in the league.
Approaching the climax of the Ligue 1 campaign they have 53 points from 29 matches. They are four points behind Olympique de Marseille with a game in hand and are only six points off the leaders Paris Saint-Germain.
In the Champions League quarter-finals they face Juventus, who cruised past Borussia Dortmund to make the final eight.
“Juventus are the obvious favourites in this quarter-final. They are in pole position to win their fourth consecutive Italian league title, and showed against Dortmund that they are a force to be reckoned with in this season’s UEFA Champions League,” Vasilyev began, speaking to the club’s official website.
“AS Monaco played Juventus in 1998, and went out with honour intact. It’s almost a derby game really, and Monaco is home to lots of Italian people.
“I know our fans will be there for us, like they were against Arsenal,” he concluded, “it will be hard, but we’ll play with ambition and no pressure.”
Monaco travel to Turin for the first leg on April 14, before returning to the Stade Louis II on the 22nd.