Heinrichs gets himself forward again and ends a rare spell of Monaco passing play with a deflected shot that hits the side netting. They get a corner, but it is the last act of a depressing match for the hosts.
86'
No urgency from the hosts whatsoever, as they let PSG continue to run them ragged despite their four-goal lead. Another away attack goes begging, but the visitors immediately get the ball back after another misplaced Monaco pass. This is dreadful stuff from the home side.
84'
Heinrichs clashes with Areola as he attempts to latch onto a loose ball that the keeper manages to collect in the end. No foul given though, as the left-back didn’t charge ahead with any intent.
82'
Sidibe falls asleep once again as Jemerson’s header falls into his path, but Choupo-Moting nearly takes the ball off him. PSG win the corner and nearly get a fifth goal once again but for Di Maria’s hesitation in the six-yard area with Benaglio breathing down his neck. Monaco concede yet another corner, but it falls to nothing.
77'
Á. Di María enters the game and replaces M. Diaby.
E. Choupo-Moting enters the game and replaces C. Nkunku.
Choupo-Moting replaces the lively Nkunku to round off PSG’s substitutions for the match.
Diaby gets rewarded for his vibrant display with an early rest as Di Maria comes on to take his place in midfield.
76'
Neymar is caught by Grandsir from behind as he was about to embark on another one of his runs. Despite only grabbing one goal via the penalty spot, he has been instrumental to the PSG cause yet again.
71'
Grandsir attempts to salvage some home pride by striking a good hit from outside the area, but the shot goes wide of Areola’s right.
69'
S. Nsoki enters the game and replaces J. Draxler.
H. Massengo enters the game and replaces R. Falcao.
PSG bring on a youth product of their own, as N’Soki comes on for Draxler in Tuchel’s first substitution.
Another youngster emerges from the Monaco bench, as the 17-year old Massengo makes his senior debut in place of the struggling Falcao for Henry’s final change of the match.
64'
Penalty goal scored by Neymar for PSG!
GOAL! PSG GET THEIR FOURTH! Neymar takes a stuttering run-up before coolly slotting the ball past Benaglio’s bottom right corner! 4-0 to the champions, and Henry will be fuming!
56'
Isidor once again tries to make something out of nothing for his side, but his swerving shot is deflected by Nkunku and goes out for another Monaco corner. It then comes to nothing as PSG regroup.
Minute
Description
55'
Henrichs gets himself forward from left-back after collecting Diop's pass and unleashes a low drive that Areola goes down to collect. A rare foray towards goal for the hosts, who could do with a consolation goal to perk this contest up.
53'
E. Cavani has scored a goal for PSG! Assist by M. Diaby.
Diaby with his second assist of the match, his low cross after being brilliantly found by Rabiot met with a free Cavani who was only happy to do the rest.
GOAL! PSG AND CAVANI FINALLY GET THEIR THIRD! It’s a stroll for the champions as Rabiot picks out Diaby with a fine pass as the winger whips in a quick ball for the grateful Uruguay forward to tap in another hat-trick for his side! 3-0 to PSG, and they are cruising!
50'
Seconds after coming on, Isidor’s first contribution is to take on Kehrer, then cuts in and hits a shot from outside the area that hits Rabiot and goes out for a corner. It comes to nothing, as PSG gain a goal kick.
49'
W. Isidor enters the game and replaces Jordi Mboula.
Mboula, who has been his side’s best player since coming on, is carried off on a stretcher in tears as Isidor replaces him.
47'
Mbappe releases a brilliant ball from the outside of his foot towards Neymar, but the ball bounces off of Jemerson instead. PSG gain possession back, though.
46'
No player changes at the interval for either side, as PSG look to rubber-stamp their dominance at the Stade Louis II with more goals against this Monaco side devoid of confidence in front of a silent home support.
Monaco get play restarted as the second half gets underway!
45' +5
HALF-TIME: MONACO 0-2 PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN
45' +1
And as quick as a flash, PSG transition from defence to attack as they swarm the Monaco half, but Diaby fails to see better options around him and shoots straight at Benaglio instead after receiving Mbappe’s pass.
45'
Three minutes of added time are confirmed by the fourth official.
44'
MONACO WITH ANOTHER WASTED CHANCE! Mboula beats Kehrer and jinks his way past him with only Areola to beat, but his weak shot is collected safely by the PSG stopper.
42'
Monaco are chasing a lot of shadows as PSG look to wind down the clock before half-time. Diaby tries to look for a running Mbappe in the box, but Badiashile cuts his pass out and hits it clear from the home side’s half.
41'
The set-piece is met by Jemerson’s head, who goes down after his teammate Benaglio runs into him in a vain effort to punch the ball away. Monaco reassemble as they wait to take the free-kick.
33'
Could it be damage limitation this early at the Stade Louis II? Monaco look completely dejected out there, and we still have a second half to play out!
31'
Draxler and Neymar combine, with the latter lifting a ball to the wide-open Nkunku, but the youngster scuffs his shot and Monaco clear once again. PSG continue their spell of dominance.
29'
Mbappe releases his explosive pace in a vain attempt to catch Neymar’s lofted ball from midfield, but a combination of the speed of the pass and an onrushing Benaglio prevents him from doing so.
27'
The debutant Badiashile ends a Monaco corner by chesting down a loose ball and whacking it on the half-volley, resulting in another home attempt that goes over Areola’s bar.
25'
Falcao releases the young winger Mboula as he tries to keep pace with the ball, but another one of his crosses is blocked. Monaco get the throw-in.
23'
Monaco simply can’t keep the ball enough to attempt to control this match, and Neymar is running rings around a team clearly bereft of any confidence. Henry has a massive task ahead of him.
21'
Jordi Mboula enters the game and replaces N. Chadli.
Chadli, who had looked like he had been struggling since kick-off, comes off to add to Monaco’s injury tally and Mboula replaces him for the first change of the match.
19'
Diop does excellently to weave his way past the right side of PSG’s defence, but he runs out of ideas as soon as he enters the box and his cross is blocked and cleared away.
18'
Mbappe tries to set Cavani up for an early hat-trick by teeing the ball to him, but the pass is tame and Monaco clear.
17'
FALCAO ONCE AGAIN GOING CLOSE! He receives a lofted pass from Grandsir on the wing but like before, takes one more touch than he normally does and the PSG defence recover in time to clear the ball away.
11'
E. Cavani has scored a goal for PSG! Assist by M. Diaby.
AND PSG GET THEIR GOAL CONFIRMED! Lightning strikes twice as once again, VAR goes the way of the champions. Further replays verified Sidibe having played Cavani onside for the second time, and it is now 2-0 as Henry and company face an uphill task!
Diaby does brilliantly to receive Neymar’s lifted pass and take the ball past the onrushing Benaglio. Cavani, ever the willing recipient, taps the ball into an empty net after being laid square by the winger.
7'
Diaby ends a quick, clever PSG corner by slicing a shot well over the bar from near the edge of the box. Goal kick to Monaco.
4'
E. Cavani has scored a goal for PSG! Assist by Neymar.
Neymar’s low cross was the end product of a smooth PSG passing move that left the Monaco defence chasing shadows. Cavani won’t score an easier goal this season.
AND BUQUET GIVES THE GOAL! The replays did show Cavani having been played onside by Sidibe, and the goal correctly stands. 1-0 to PSG, and another big blow to Monaco!
2'
Monaco take an early shooting opportunity, with Diop finding space well outside the box and hitting it well over Areola’s bar.
It’s a bright start by the home side, as Chadli finds his running boots out on the right wing and delivers a cross that evades everybody - including his intended target Falcao. PSG get the ball back in the end.
1'
Referee Ruddy Buquet blows his whistle, and PSG get us underway at the Stade Louis II!
Both teams are out in their usual colours, with Monaco in their famous red and white shirts and white shorts, while PSG are out decked in dark blue with the distinctive red stripe down the middle.
Hello, and welcome to our LIVE coverage of this Ligue 1 clash as under-fire Monaco host unbeaten Paris Saint-Germain at the Stade Louis II!
It was only less than two years ago that Leonardo Jardim’s Monaco were the talk of European football, as they pipped PSG to the Ligue 1 championship while competing in the Champions League semi-finals along the way. Fast forward to now, and a side who’ve lost a majority of the key figures from those glory days are in 19th place and in the midst of a 15-match winless run in all competitions.
They reached their nadir last Tuesday when they suffered their heaviest European home defeat at the hands of unfancied Club Brugge, preventing Les Monegasques from qualifying for the Champions League knockout stages after just four matches. Pressure is already mounting on Thierry Henry less than a month into his tenure after succeeding Jardim, and he now has the unenviable task of picking up and dusting off his injury-ravaged squad for a showdown with the dominant table-toppers in search of his first managerial win.
While Monaco face the prospect of a relegation battle, Thomas Tuchel’s PSG are enjoying a different narrative having been the first club in the ‘big five’ European leagues to win their opening 12 games of a season. Add their relentless goal-getting (41 goals already scored so far) and their opponents’ dreadful form (their last 10 league matches also failed to register a clean sheet), and an outcome other than the champions running riot in the principality would be a huge surprise.
MONACO XI (4-2-3-1): Diego Benaglio; Djibril Sidibe, Benoit Badiashile, Jemerson, Benjamin Henrichs; Pele, Youssef Ait Bennasser; Samuel Grandsir, Sofiane Diop, Nacer Chadli; Radamel Falcao (c).
SUBSTITUTES: Gianluigi Buffon, Lass Diarra, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, Angel Di Maria, Marco Verratti, Thomas Meunier, Stanley N'Soki.
Despite their midweek hiccup at Napoli which has left their hopes for reaching the knockout stages of the Champions League in the balance, Les Parisiens are expected to bounce back with style, having won all of their previous seven encounters against their struggling opposition. To add more salt to the wounds, one of those key figures from Monaco’s 2016/17 season has been in scintillating form for the league leaders, as Kylian Mbappe has already notched up 11 goals and four assists since the start of the season.
With 15 minutes to go before kick-off, let’s take a look at how both teams line up, starting with the hosts.
SUBSTITUTES: Loic Badiashile, Jonathan Panzo, Ronael Pierre Gabriel, Jordi Mboula, Wilson Isidior, Han-Noah Massengo, Kephran Thuram-Ulien.
It has been men against boys out there, as Monaco look to have surrendered from the get-go, culminating in two quick-fire Cavani goals within the first 12 minutes. Both strikes underwent VAR reviewing, but this had only delayed the inevitable. Falcao has looked turgid despite being presented with a couple of chances that the predatory forward would normally convert, and Mboula looks to be Monaco’s only dangerous outlet despite only coming on midway through the half. Henry and his charges have a long 45 minutes ahead of them.
Tuchel will be extremely pleased at his team’s efforts before the interval, having watched a Neymar-inspired PSG cut swathes through Monaco’s defence. The Brazilian has taken on the role of midfeld playmaker, having played a part in both of Cavani’s goals, and despite looking the quieter of the trident, Mbappe’s presence alone will put more apprehension in Monaco’s minds. Should they continue to play the way they have been, expect more goals from Les Parisiens after the break.
And that wraps up our coverage. We hope you enjoyed our commentary, and until next time, goodbye!
The international break is up next, as both sides won’t get a chance to play until the 24th of November. PSG will host Toulouse at the Parc des Princes, whereas Monaco go to Caen in an all-important clash that could heavily determine the destiny of their domestic fortunes.
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