Four dark horses who could win the Champions League

2.) AS Monaco

One of the few clubs that has experienced recent success in the Champions League outside of the big four leagues, Monaco offer a very curious resume.  This is a club that has experienced wild swings from relegation to Ligue 1 championships and Champions League runner-up medals.

In recent years, money bag owners have once again turned Monaco into something of a power and this season is no exception.  While they are certainly not on the level of PSG, Monaco has positioned themselves well in the difficult group E.  Leading both Tottenham and Bayern Leverkusen with five points at the half way mark, Monaco has made the job slightly easier for themselves.  With two of the final three fixtures taking place in Monaco, they can use their home field advantage to full effect.

The hope, at this point, has to be a victory in the group to avoid the real powers of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, and Barcelona in the round of 16.

Another reason for optimism is the balanced nature of the squad as six players have notched three goals or more at this stage in the young season.  Radamel Falcao is a familiar face for most fans around the world, but he is not what Monaco rely on.  Rather this balanced attack benefits from a dynamite midfield group of Joao Moutinho, Bernardo Silva, and Fabinho.  The summer signings have also come to fruition as striker Valere Germain and central defender Kamil Glik have both been very good early on.

Finally, Monaco has the experience of playing in difficult knockout round games from past seasons.  In 14/15 they made it to the quarterfinal of the Champions League defeating Arsenal and narrowly losing to Juventus on a 1-0 aggregate scoreline (Juve went on to place as runners-up).