by PSG dealt an important blow in the race for leadership. The Parisians showed off their offensive power against Monaco (5-2), one of their closest pursuers in the standings, to widen the gap between both teams by six points. This victory, the sixth consecutive in the French championship, leaves Nice as the only team capable of following in the footsteps of Luis Enrique’s team.
In the early stages of the game, the spotlight fell on the goalkeepers. Both Köhn and Donnarumma made worthy interventions to prevent the first goal from being added to the scoreboard at the Parc des Princes. At times both seemed unbeatable, but the same spotlights that praised them became accusers a few minutes later.
The first blow, after a very doubtful offside that invalidated Vanderson’s goal, was carried out by the Parisians. Köhn, who had previously grown huge to thwart a one-on-one with Mbappé, Benjamin made a mistake when trying to stop a very timid attempt by Dembélé. The Monegasque goalkeeper let the ball slip from his hands, and Gonçalo Ramos, who had the ball ready, took advantage of the mistake to inaugurate hostilities.
A new blunder, this time starring Donnarumma, led to the return of the draw to the scoreboard. The Italian goalkeeper was overconfident when releasing the ball and, upon feeling Balogun’s pressure, he quickly abandoned the ball from his feet. The clearance fell at the feet of Minamino, who took advantage of the assist to finish at will.
The waters seemed to have calmed down after a frenetic stretch, but it was then that Dembélé took advantage of a mistake by Magassa to force a penalty. Mbappé’s pulse did not tremble when assuming responsibilitiesand he defined with all his strength to put the Parisians ahead again.
A goal-scoring debut that was hard to come by
PSG reached the halfway point of the match with the advantage in their possession, and they only had to limit themselves to defending it to hit the table in the race for the lead. However, The Parisians came out of the locker room tunnel with less fangssituation that the Monegasques took advantage of to carry the offensive burden.
The Parisians did not find answers, but a foul without apparent danger ended up paving the way. Fabián executed it quickly to surprise Monaco’s defense, serving in depth in search of a Dembélé who was already on the move. The ex-Azulgrana drove until he stepped into the area and, despite barely having an angle, found a loophole to beat Köhn.
The bite of the ‘Mosquito’, the first with the PSG shirt, turned the game upside down. Barely a minute had passed since Dembélé’s goal when Vitinha nailed the ball into the block to dictate the sentence. Balogun disguised the result and Monaco threatened to react, but the difference was too high. Kolo Muani, in stoppage time, put the finishing touch to the Parisians’ great night.
