Unstoppable Paris beat Monaco for the third time this season
After an intense battle in the capital, Paris Saint-Germain made the difference in the second half to record their third win in less than two months against a Monaco side that started brightly but were eventually overcame (4-1). Here's a look back at an exciting evening at the Parc des Princes.
Just three days after their 0-2 win over Le Mans in the Coupe de France, Paris Saint-Germain returned to Ligue 1 action with a clash against AS Monaco. To try and maintain Paris' fantastic form, Luis Enrique fielded a central defensive pairing of captain Marquinhos and Willian Pacho, with Gianluigi Donnarumma in goal. João Neves started at right-back, with Nuno Mendes on the opposite flank. In midfield, Vitinha was flanked by Fabián Ruiz and Désiré Doué, while Bradley Barcola and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia supported Ousmane Dembélé up front.
With another special atmosphere at the Parc des Princes, the match got off to a fast start. The Rouge et Bleu were the first to light the fuse with a vicious free-kick, Vitinha catching out Radoslaw Majecki to give the capital club the lead (1-0, 6'). The tone was set, and Monaco were forced to deal with the effective counter-pressure imposed by the Parisians. The club from the Principality were fighting back well in the early stages. Captain Denis Zakaria took advantage of a long ball from Christian Mawissa to surprise Gigio Donnarumma at the near post and equalise for the visitors (1-1, 17').
Dominated in the game but effective in quick transitions, the visitors thought they were about to take the lead a few moments later when Takumi Minamino was one-on-one with Gigio, but Willian Pacho's magnificent recovery tackle prevented the Japanese striker from unleashing his shot (23'). The game was end to end at this point, and Paris thought they had taken the lead when Bradley Barcola put away a João Neves pass, but the ball seemed to have gone out of play by just a few centimetres (28'). After that, both Mika Biereth (36') and Ousmane Dembélé (38') failed to hit the target.
In a breathless encounter that lived up to all its promise, it was not until the second half that one side got the better of the other. As in the first half, it was the Parisians who came out firing first, this time with a piece of magic from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia: perfectly set up by Bradley Barcola, the Paris No7 beat Magassa with a subtle feint before scoring his first goal for the Parisians (2-1, 54'). Then it was Ousmane Dembélé's turn. Played through by an inch-perfect Désiré Doué pass, he gave the Monaco keeper no chance and scored his side's third with a powerful right-footed shot (3-1, 57').
The Parisian machine was well and truly up and running, and the crowd at the Parc was enjoying the show being put on by their players. Even with a two-goal lead and a Champions League match just a few days away, the Rouge et Bleu did not hold back and kept on combining, depriving Monaco of the ball. ASM were forced to rely on Majecki, who kept his team in the game by stopping Dembélé at the end of another classy team move (74'). But the French international was not to be denied, as he capitalised on Nuno Mendes‘ superb work on the left wing to score his second from close range (4-1, 90’).
It was the icing on the cake to round off a fantastic evening at the Parc. Paris Saint-Germain comfortably beat AS Monaco and continued to set their furious pace at the top of Ligue 1. Now it's on to the Champions League for our Rouge et Bleu, who travel to Guingamp early next week to take on Stade Brestois 29 in the first leg of their play-off for a place in the last 16. See you next Tuesday at 6.45pm at the Stade de Roudourou!