MY ACCOUNT
Paris Saint-Germain lost their fourth straight away game in all competitions as they fell 3-0 to Monaco at Stade Louis II on Sunday.
Two goals from Wissam Ben Yedder and another from Kevin Volland were enough to seal victory for Philippe Clement’s side in a game in which PSG were second best for large periods.
Mauricio Pochettino was without Lionel Messi (flu) and so started Georginio Wijnaldum on the right of the front three alongside Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.
It was a deserved win for the Monegasques, who responded perfectly to going out of the Europa League on Thursday, while PSG remain 15 points clear at the top of the Ligue 1 table.
The hosts made a strong start, and took a deserved lead on 25 minutes when Youssouf Fofana’s low cross from the right found Ben Yedder, who arrived ahead of Presnel Kimpembe to flick the ball high into Gianluigi Donnarumma’s net at the near post.
The Parisians started the second half brighter and Mbappe had a good chance to equalise after a mistake from Axel Disasi, but the France international was denied as he tried to round Alexander Nubel.
Clement somewhat surprisingly subbed off the dangerous-looking Gelson Martins for Volland on the hour, but the German striker justified that decision when he slid in Monaco’s second in the 68th minute after good work from Ben Yedder and Ruben Aguilar down the right.
The game was done and dusted with six minutes left when Ben Yedder won the ball from Marco Verratti before feeding Volland, who was brought down by Kimpembe in the box.
That allowed Ben Yedder to fortuitously score his second of the game from 12 yards as Donnarumma somehow pushed the ball into the far corner of the net after guessing the right way.
What does it mean? PSG struggling to recover from Madrid setback
PSG are going to win the league, so it is difficult to catastrophise performances like this, but another insipid showing is perhaps an indication as to why they were so easily overwhelmed in the end by Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Luckily for Pochettino – who was managing in his 50th Ligue 1 game – his team were 15 points clear of their nearest pursuers Marseille heading into this one, the third biggest gap between the top two at this stage under the three points for a win era behind themselves in 2015/16 (23) and 2018/19 (20).
But this makes it four defeats in six games in all competitions, including their last three away games in Ligue 1.
Impressive response from Monaco
Monaco had been having a bad time of it themselves lately, winning just one of their previous eight games in all competitions and being dumped out of the Europa League by Braga.
They were excellent against the league leaders, though, and have now lost just one of their last 12 Ligue 1 home games (W8 D3).
PSG start slowly
It was quite damning of the league leaders that when Ben Yedder gave Monaco a first-half lead, the only thing surprising about it was how long it had taken.
The visitors did not have a shot of any kind until the 24th minute, seconds before they went behind, and allowed 11 shots (six on target) against them in the first half alone.
Key Opta Stats:
– Monaco registered their biggest win against PSG in Ligue 1 since September 1999 (also a 3-0 win, with that meeting at Parc des Princes).
– They are the team who have won the most games against PSG in Ligue 1 (44 successes in 92 encounters), and now have three wins in their last four meetings (L1).
– This was the biggest defeat in Ligue 1 for PSG since April 2019 (a 5-1 reverse at Lille).
– The four-match losing streak for PSG in all competitions is their longest such run since a five-match stretch spanning from December 2009 until January 2010.
– Pochettino has lost eight of his first 50 Ligue 1 games on the PSG bench (W35 D7), exactly the same tally as his predecessor Thomas Tuchel at this stage (W38 D4).
What’s next?
Monaco travel to Metz two weeks on Sunday after the international break, while PSG host Lorient the day prior.
