We are counting down the Top 10 Teams of the Decade—at No.10: AS Monaco, 2016-17
If there was an award for the most fun team of the decade, Monaco’s class of 2017 would probably win it.
It partnered the lightning-quick Kylian Mbappe with the predatory Radamel Falcao, both of whom fed off the wonderfully creative Thomas Lemar, the magisterial Bernardo Silva and low-cross master Benjamin Mendy.
Holding the fort while those five ran riot were Fabinho, who has grown into arguably the best holding midfielder in the game, and Tiemoue Bakayoko, who didn’t thrive outside of France but shows his quality while in it.
They achieved what many thought impossible—pipping Paris Saint-Germain to the Ligue 1 title—and rode to the Champions League semi-finals only to fall to a streetwise Juventus side.
They enchanted everyone along the way.
Best XI: Danijel Subasic; Djibril Sidibe, Jemerson, Kamil Glik, Benjamin Mendy; Thomas Lemar, Fabinho, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Bernardo Silva; Kylian Mbappe, Radamel Falcao