Run through the long list of the personnel who have served both clubs in the past two decades and you would assume Arsenal and AS Monaco have much in common.
One man, above all, is Arsene Wenger, who, as a young coach with Monaco, followed many of the principles then that he does as a seasoned manager in London now.
Wenger, who spent 1987 to 1994 at Monaco, is remembered fondly – even revered – in that corner of the Cote d'Azur.
The youth system he helped develop from La Turbie, Monaco’s training headquarters, has furnished his Arsenal over the years with several fine players, notably Thierry Henry.
There are other things that liken the two clubs who on Wednesday evening meet at the last 16 stage of the Uefa Champions League.
Within English football, Arsenal are sometimes looked at as if they represent the privileged class of the Premier League, close to the centre of London, with a section of their following a conspicuously wealthy, metropolitan set.
Monaco, for their part, have long been resented by the other members of the French Ligue 1 and that is also to do with perceptions of wealth and -privilege.
Because the club is based in a sovereign state with low tax rates, Monaco have an advantage in recruiting players, though the club pays a levy to the French league to compensate.
Monaco’s disadvantage is small crowds, the downside of existing in a small city-state, with an official population of fewer than 40,000.
It may be that an unusual percentage of the residents are millionaires, but that does little to help raise the average attendance of the Stade Louis II above about 7,000.
Arsenal, popular and with a large modern stadium, do not experience that sort of local indifference.
Wenger was frustrated while at Monaco by the lack of ambience for home matches, while even more exasperating for him was the idea – correct as it turned out – that the French system was open to corruption.
Marseille – Monaco’s main rivals at the time – spent big and were also found to have offered bribes to players from one opponent, Valenciennes, to lose a fixture.
That soured Wenger’s memory of his time at the summit of French football.
But it was also a blessed reign in so far as he oversaw the blossoming of greats, such as a teenage Henry, the 1995 Ballon d’Or winner Liberian striker George Weah, scouted in West Africa, and French World Cup winners Lilian Thuram and Emmanuel Petit.
Petit, like Henry, later joined Wenger’s Arsenal.
Monaco remembers him for that legacy and for his belief in elegant football. Their fans would envy the flair and creativity he has established in his Arsenal sides.
Monaco, low-scoring, but mean enough in defence to balance that, are gaining a notoriety for their crabbiness more than for their reputation as entertainers. They scored a mere four goals to top their group on the first phase of the Champions League.
Arsenal scored 15 in their six matches and finished second in their pool.
“We lost some attacking players over the summer, so we have to work with that,” said Leonardo Jardim, Monaco’s Portuguese coach, referring to the 2014 departures of Radamel Falcao (to Manchester United), James Rodriguez (Real Madrid) and Manu Riviere (Newcastle United), which were part of budget cutting.
The gap has made room for the rise of Bernardo Silva, a young Portuguese who has been in good form.
Arsenal will also know that the veteran centre-forward Dimitar Berbatov, once of Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United, can swing a contest even feeding off a limited number of chances.
Jardim is emboldened by the memory of a pre-season friendly win over Wenger’s team at the Emirates that finished 1-0, which tends to be Monaco’s favourite scoreline.
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