An injury-hit Paris Saint-Germain side suffered a 3-1 defeat to AS Monaco in Ligue 1 action on Saturday evening.
Ligue 1
Result: AS Monaco 1-3 Paris Saint-Germain
Date: 11 February 2023
Venue: Stade Louis II
PSG were without Lionel Messi who suffered a knock in the club's Coupe de France elimination to Olympique Marseille as he joined Kylian Mbappe on the injury list and the Parisians had Neymar and Hugo Ekitike leading the line in a changed formation.
Monaco were quick off the mark as Alekasandr Golovin gave them the lead within four minutes with a poked effort from range after a rebound in the box.
The hosts kept on pressing high the pitch and another fortuitous rebound on 18 minutes sent Ben Yedder through on goal, as he fired a strike past goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma from a tight angle.
Christophe Galtier's charges could not keep Monaco on a back foot for longer periods, as the game opened up but they eventually managed to reduce the deficit just before the break after Warren Zaire-Emery had a tap-in at the back post from a cut-back by Juan Bernat.
As the game continued to open up, Ben Yedder restored a two-goal cushion for Philippe Clement's men on the stroke of half-time and completed his brace with a strike that went in off the far post after he went through on goal.
PSG had the bulk of the possession in the opening exchanges of the second stanza but it was in the areas they were not hurting Monaco, who were happy to sit back and absorb the pressure.
The visitors needed a different dimension to break down the Red and Whites and with 24 minutes to go, Galtier could only bring on Achraf Hakimi in place of Timothee Pembele for fresh legs at right-back.
Monaco were dangerous going forward at the other end, on counter-attacks, as Breel Embolo broke away in the last nine minutes but was denied by Donnarumma, who parried his shot wide.
Clement's men frustrated PSG in the closing stages, as they slowed the tempo of the game down, keeping possession and Takumi Minamino had a big chance to add a fourth goal in the tail end but Donnarumma made a save with his trailing leg, as three goals were enough to get the job done on the night.
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