All you need to know: Monaco-Paris!

A BIT OF HISTORY...

This will be the 110th competitive encounter between Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco. Les Rouge et Bleu still trail the side from the Principality in the history books, with a total of 33 victories, 29 draws and 47 defeats. 

ASM will equal the record for the most matches played against Les Parisiens: currently held by Girondins de Bordeaux, with 110 competitive matches between the two teams.

Although Monaco are still historically Paris Saint-Germain's bogey team, the trend has turned considerably over the past few years with 12 victories, 3 draws and just 3 defeats for Les Parisiens against Les Monégasques in the last 18 competitive encounters since the start of 2017.

The history books will also remember that Paris Saint-Germain have only played one competitive match without a coach on the bench since 1970, and it was against Monaco. After the surprise resignation of Pierre Alonzo and before the return of Velibor Vasovic, it was President Francis Borelli who selected the starting eleven to face the Red and Whites on 4 November 1978 (2-1 defeat for Les Parisiens).

36 players have worn the shirt of both clubs: Jimmy Algerino, Jean-Kévin Augustin, Ali Benarbia, Daniel Bernard, Daniel Bravo, Édouard Cissé, Alain Couriol, Éric Cubilier, Omar Da Fonseca, James Debbah, Abdou Diallo, Youri Djorkaeff, Jean-Pierre Dogliani, Louis Floch, Marcelo Gallardo, Franck Gava, Xavier Gravelaine, Bernard Guignedoux, Ludovic Giuly, Layvin Kurzawa, Yvon Leroux, Mickael Madar, Kylian Mbappé, Jérémy Ménez, Nenê, Alex Nyarko, Christian Perez, José-Karl Pierre-Fanfan, Fabrice Poullain, Bruno Rodriguez, Jean-Louis Rostagni, Jérôme Rothen, Amara Simba, Marco Simone, George Weah and Arthur Zagré.

Edinson Cavani, with 15 goals, is Paris Saint-Germain's top scorer against Monaco. He sits ahead of Kylian Mbappé (10 goals), Carlos Bianchi, Angel Di Maria and Neymar Jr (6 goals) in the standings.

Monaco provide an excellent memory for several Parisians: Safet Susic started his career at Paris Saint-Germain against ASM at the Parc des Princes on 18 December 1982. Coming on in the second half, he wasn't able to prevent his side from losing 0-1. Ronaldinho scored his final goal for Les Rouge et Bleu against Les Monégasques, from the penalty spot on 4 May 2003. Pedro Miguel Pauleta opened his tally in Paris against the side from the Principality on 24 August 2003 (4-2 victory over Monaco) and more recently, it's at Monaco that Angel Di Maria started his career in the capital, with an assist to celebrate his debut (a 3-0 win for the club from the capital on 30 August 2015).

THE STAKES...

Paris Saint-Germain have won their last two matches in the league, at Montpellier (3-1) and against Toulouse (2-1), and now have an 8-point lead over Marseille and Lens.

Paris are still top of the league and remain in the running for a first in French football: finishing the season having been top of Ligue 1 for all 38 matches, something that has never happened in the history of French football. 

THE KEYS TO THE MATCH...

We should expect to see goals at the Stade Louis II: the matches between the two sides have often been spectacular in recent years, with 78 goals scored during the last 22 competitive matches between the two sides, that's an average of 3.5 goals per match, and there has been no 0-0 since 01/03/2015, at Monaco in Ligue 1.

With 81 goals for Paris in Ligue 1, Neymar Jr is closing in on the club's top five goalscorers: Edinson Cavani (138 goals), Kylian Mbappé (132 goals), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (113 goals), Mustapha Dahleb (85 goals) and Dominique Rocheteau (83 goals).