PSG overthrows Monaco to take off at the top of the standings

After its snatched victory against AS Monaco (4-2), Wednesday December 18 in the evening at the Louis-II stadium, thanks in particular to a double from Ousmane Dembélé, Paris Saint-Germain ensured the end of the celebrations of the year at the top of Ligue 1. This success in the advanced match of the 16^e day – the rest of the matches will take place at the beginning of January 2025 – allows the championship leader to now be ten points ahead of their evening opponents as well as Olympique de Marseille, who nevertheless have a match in hand.

Effective after being led 2-1 during the match, Paris partly killed the little suspense that still surrounded the championship, at the end of a match full of twists and turns.

After two consecutive draws against Auxerre (0-0) and Nantes (1-1), Luis Enrique’s men have regained scale and offensive efficiency, once again driven by Achraf Hakimi, Ousmane Dembélé and Désiré Doué. After Salzburg and Lyon, the latter put together a third interesting performance in a row. With his French teammates in attack, Dembélé and Bradley Barcola, he switched throughout the match. The trio managed to embarrass the Monegasques, whom the Parisians will meet on January 5 in Doha for the Champions Trophy, which explains the brought forward date of this Ligue 1 meeting.

Kolo Muani still excluded from the Parisian group

Scorer by recovering the ball in front of the goal after a powerful strike from Fabian Ruiz was pushed back, Ousmane Dembélé equalized (2-2, 64^e) thanks to an easy goal. His second achievement, on a lob, is more impressive (4-2, 90 + 7) after having managed to resist Singo’s return. Returning at the end of the match, Portuguese striker Gonçalo Ramos changed the score thanks to a header from a corner (3-2, 83^e).

The other French international striker, Randal Kolo Muani, was once again excluded from the group, as against Lyon. His situation seems more and more complicated and his Parisian adventure could come to an end in the winter transfer window, as he is not part of coach Luis Enrique’s plans.

Conversely, the Spaniard’s strong man this season is Achraf Hakimi, named vice-captain. Once again, he was very free on the right side, getting into the heart of the game or projecting himself a lot. This was the case on the Parisians’ opening score, where it was the Moroccan who destabilized the entire Monegasque defense before serving Désiré Doué, left alone in the area (1-0, 24^e).

Under the eyes of Prince Albert sitting alongside the president of the ASM, Dmitri Rybolovlev, in the princely box, Monaco overturned the match for the first time. Eliesse Ben Seghir equalized with a perfectly taken penalty (1-1, 53^e) then Breel Embolo gave the advantage (2-1, 60^e).

Gianluigi Donnarumma’s cheek lacerated

On these two goals, Matvey Safonov could not do anything. The Russian goalkeeper of PSG entered the game after leaving due to injury, from the 17th^e minute, by Gianluigi Donnarumma. The Italian had his cheek lacerated after an involuntary but spectacular clash with Wilfried Singo, who was not sent off or even warned following the action, arousing the incomprehension of the Parisians. The PSG doctor put ten staples on the Parisian goalkeeper, who received the sole of the full-back in the face after a face-to-face between the two players.

“I don’t know if the referee was in the wrong place, but VAR had to be called, we have to protect the players”said Marquinhos after the match, adding that the image of the goalkeeper “scary”.

“It’s never nice to see that. But there was no intentionality. I never criticize refereeing. Football is a contact sport”nevertheless declared Luis Enrique.

For its part, ASM still cannot do it against the big teams and records its fifth defeat in ten matches in all competitions. “We are still far from the best teams, like Benfica, Arsenal, PSG”admitted the Monegasque coach, Adi Hütter. “We have to do things better, that’s for sure. We are on the right track but it is not perfect. To concede four goals is too much,” added the Austrian.