Without the duo of Messi and Mbappe, Paris Saint Germain (PSG) performed poorly and conceded 3 goals in the first half.
Coach Christophe Galtier’s army was a guest on AS Monaco’s field in round 23 of Ligue 1 without the service of the star duo Messi and Mbappe due to both injuries. Instead, Neymar alone led the attack with young faces who lacked a lot of experience.
Aleksandr Golovin opened the scoring for Monaco after only 4 minutes of rolling the ball (Image: AP).
PSG’s patchwork squad soon conceded a goal after only 4 minutes of rolling the ball. From a throw-in on the right, Youssouf Fofana and Ben Yedder made the PSG defense confused. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Aleksandr Golovin hit the goal of Donnarumma’s goal.
Neymar’s disappointment when he saw the team quickly conceded 2 goals after only 18 minutes (Image: AP).
Having taken the lead, PSG’s defense still played awkwardly and conceded a second goal in the 18th minute. Young defender Chadaille Bitshiabu lost the ball on the left wing of the goal and Ben Yedder won the ball. The French striker made a dangerous finish to double the lead for Monaco.
In the stalemate, PSG suddenly had a goal to shorten the gap in the 39th minute of the match. After escaping to the bottom of the left wing, Juan Bernat stretched precisely to let Warren Zaire-Emery cushion the ball to score in an unmarked position.
Zaire-Emery shortened the score to 1-2 for PSG in the 39th minute of the match (Image: AP).
However, the joy of the Parc des Princes club did not last long. In the second minute of injury time of the first half, Ben Yedder received a pass from Ben Seghir, cleverly shielded to pass Bernat before beating Donnarumma, making it 3-1 for the home team.
Entering the second half, PSG pushed up the squad to find an equalizer. Coach Galtier sent Ramos, Hakimi, and Kimpembe in to “patch” the defense, but the game did not improve compared to before. Even without the excellence of goalkeeper Donnarumma, PSG could receive 2 to 3 more goals. In the end, PSG suffered a 1-3 defeat against Monaco.
Donnarumma tries to save Golovin’s close range shot (Image: AP).
The loss did not affect PSG’s rankings much. They still hold the top of Ligue 1 with 5 points more than Marseille. However, coach Christophe Galtier’s teachers and students are not in good shape. Before that, they had just lost to Marseille 1-2 and was eliminated from the French National Cup.
On the morning of February 15 (Vietnam time), PSG will enter the first leg of the 1/8 Champions League round of 16 against Bayern Munich with many worries, especially with the health of Messi and Mbappe.