Paris St. Germain won a turbulent top-of-the-table clash with many twists and turns at AS Monaco, 4-2 in the end, and thus ended a four-year negative streak.
Looking at the table, it was quite clear that AS Monaco needed to beat PSG if they didn’t want the gap to the league leaders to become double digits. Compared to the recent goalless draw in Reims, coach Adi Hütter brought on five new players (Vanderson, Salissou, Akliouche, Camara and Embolo; Mawissa, Teze, Ouattara, Minamino and Ilenikhena were substituted out) and also switched from a back three to a back four.
Paris, on the other hand, had recently recovered from a three-game winless streak, including a 3-1 defeat of rivals Lyon, after a period of weakness. By comparison, coach Luis Enrique had to make changes at left back, with Nuno Mendes unavailable due to a thigh injury. Joao Neves, who usually plays in midfield, had to help out. There were three substitutions in total: Marquinhos, Fabian and Barcola played for Lucas Beraldo, Nuno Mendes and Lee.
Early exit for Donnarumma
In terms of sport, the Stade Louis II, where PSG had not won in four games (0-1-3), saw a fairly fast-paced game: both teams looked for quick and direct routes forward, and there were spaces on both sides, but they were not really well played. There were frequent turnovers, and chances like those created by Ben Seghir (8th minute) and Joao Neves (10th minute) were rare.
There was a nasty moment in the 18th minute when Singo went too far forward to receive the ball and then, extremely unfortunately, met Donnarumma full in the face with his studs. That was the end of the game for the Italian, with Safonov coming on and scoring his team’s first goal a few minutes later: Joao Neves sent Hakimi down the right, who in turn found the 19-year-old Doué in the center. The game went into half-time with a narrow 1-0 lead.
Monaco turns the game around within seven minutes
The Monegasques came out of the half-time break better, they played with more structure, were more agile and then also had the necessary luck of the game when referee Francois Letexier awarded a penalty after a deflection off Marquinhos’ hand from a Pacho shot. Ben Seghir scored accurately into the right corner (53rd minute). But that was not all, because only a little later Akliouche sprinted down the left wing and found Embolo in the middle – 2:1 (60th minute).
The Parisian response was not long in coming: Dembelé was in the right place for the tap-in after Köhn had saved against Fabian (60th minute). The clock was back to zero, the intensity remained high – and Camara was then another victim. The 20-year-old Senegalese, who had been named African Young Player of the Year just a few days ago, injured his ankle and left the field limping and supported by medical staff when he was substituted for Minamino (74).
Turbulent added time
The Japanese could even have become the hero of the evening, but it didn’t come to that because he couldn’t get the ball on target from three meters out in a controlled manner and thus let the equalizer lie again (85′). Two minutes earlier, substitute Goncalo Ramos had scored the 3-2 with a header after a corner.
But that was not all this turbulent top game had to offer: Monaco coach Adi Hütter was also shown the red card because he had apparently chosen the wrong words to complain about a penalty (90.+5), before Dembelé completed a counterattack in exemplary fashion and scored the 4:2 final score with a lob into the far corner (90.+7).