5 Unexpected Champions League Semi-finalists in recent years

#1 AS Monaco (2016/17)

Mbappe burst on to the European scene with Monaco

The challenges that AS Monaco faced in the knockout stages of the 2016/17 Champions League must be one of the hardest roads trodden upon by any club in the history of the competition.

This started from the group stages itself, where they beat Tottenham Hotspur and Bayer Leverkusen to finish top of the group. A Round of 16 pairing up against Pep Guardiola's Manchester City didn't give Monaco much chance of qualification to the next round, especially after losing 5-3 at the Etihad Stadium.

A 3-1 win at home in the reverse fixture with goals from Kylian Mbappe, Fabinho and Tiemoue Bakayoko equalized the score 6-6 on aggregate and ensured qualification on away goals for the French club. In the quarter-final, Monaco beat Borussia Dortmund in both the legs, netting three goals each home and away.

Leonardo Jardim's men did a great job of containing a free-scoring Dortmund team, who were the highest goalscorers in the competition and had scored 21 goals in the group stages itself. Kamil Glik was an excellent leader in defence, organizing his back four against the trio of Marco Reus, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ousmane Dembele.

Monaco's fairytale run came to an end in the semifinals where they lost 4-1 on aggregate to Juventus. However, from a personal note, it was a defining season for many emerging players such as Bakayoko, Bernardo Silva, Benjamin Mendy, Thomas Lemar.

Teenage sensation Kylian Mbappe broke into the first team and finished as the club's top scorer in Europe with six goals whereas Mendy and Lemar finished with four assists respectively.

It proved to be a season of redemption for veteran Radamel Falcao too, as he finished with five goals in the Champions League and 30 goals in all competitions. The Champions League was a culmination of a triumphant season as they shocked the odds and beat PSG to the Ligue 1 title.