Football
Ian Holyman, France correspondent 10y

Jeremy Toulalan: Rawness could benefit Monaco in Champions League

Veteran midfielder Jeremy Toulalan hopes Monaco's Champions League inexperience can be a positive when they take on Bayer Leverkusen in Group C on Tuesday.

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Monaco and new coach Leonardo Jardim have endured a disastrous start to the new Ligue 1 season, with defeat to Lyon on Friday leaving Monaco second-from-bottom of the table with just four points to after five matches.

The arrival of Bundesliga leaders Leverkusen to the Stade Louis II therefore seems ill-timed but, despite the loss of both Radamel Falcao and James Rodriguez this summer, Toulalan believes the team's inexperience will not be a handicap.

"Insouciance will be one of our strengths," Toulalan said to reporters. "Of course it's a good experience for the youngsters. I went through that with Nantes at one time. The objective is to go as far as possible. That can give us confidence.

"Not everything has been bad since the start of the season. We saw some better things at Lyon. It's only by sticking together that we'll get out of this. Our technical qualities have to be put at the service of the team."

Toulalan is, along with Dimitar Berbatov, Ricardo Carvalho and Joao Moutinho, one of the few players at Jardim's disposal who has previous experience of European club football's elite competition -- the former Olympiakos and Sporting Lisbon boss explaining that he would be relying on the bigger names in his squad.

"Berbatov is an important player for the team, like Toulalan or Carvalho, with a lot of experience, and those players are there to help the team and transmit their experience to the youngsters," Jardim said. "It's not a problem to have a young team. You have to strike a balance between youth and experienced heads."

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