Edinson Cavani scored twice and Ángel di María set up a goal for Ezequiel Lavezzi as Paris Saint-Germain ended their winless league run against Monaco in emphatic style to maintain their perfect league start
Sometimes scorelines can be deceptive, but this wasn’t one of those occasions. Monaco’s team, inexperienced as individuals and a collective unit, showed flashes of promise in the first half but once PSG clicked beyond second gear, they quickly closed the game down, before introducing di María for an impressive cameo as he set up Lavezzi’s goal.
It’s not yet the end of August, but on tonight’s evidence, it’s hard to even begin an argument for anyone other than PSG winning the title in France this season. They were, in a word, dominant. Thanks for joining me. Goodnight.
After a competitive first half, the defending champions roared into the distance, with two goals from Edinson Cavani and one for Ezequiel Lavezzi, set up by Ángel di María.
87 mins: They really are running down the clock now, with di María and Aurier playing keep-ball down the right touchline. Adding di María’s artistry to this team’s existing strengths – central midfield and the stellar forward line – makes PSG a pretty daunting prospect.
85 mins: Di María cuts inside Elderson, who gives up on chasing him down and allows him a shot from a tight angle, which ripples the side netting. Monaco, level for almost an hour, will be keen to hear the final whistle now.
Di María makes his presence felt, picking out Lavezzi with a pinpoint through ball from inside his own half. There’s still work for Lavezzi to do, but he brings the ball down and wallops it inside Subasic’s near post from twenty yards.
81 mins: Verratti goes off, replaced by Marquinhos as PSG shut up shop. I’m not sure they need to bother. For Monaco, Chelsea loanee Mario Pasalic replaces Bernardo Silva.
79 mins: Aurier still has plenty in the tank, and charges into the penalty area after a slick spell of passing. The striker waits unmarked for the cross, and with it a third goal, but the full back blazes wide. Cavani looks unimpressed.
77 mins: Ibrahimovic’s evening is over after several weeks out injured – there was plenty of standing still, but also a sublime assist for Cavani’s second. Lavezzi is his replacement, Laurent Blanc showboating with his squad depth.
It felt like a matter of time, and after Ibrahimovic picks him out with a delicate slide-rule pass, Cavani simply has to sidefoot the ball beyond the onrushing Subasic. Which he does. Game over.
71 mins: Cavaleiro is (to date) Monaco’s biggest signing of the summer – and the former Benfica winger is involved straight away, pinging the outside of the post from a tight angle, and unfortunately for him, an offside position.
69 mins: Monaco need to do something dramatic to preserve this long unbeaten run against PSG; at the moment, complacency is the chief threat to the visitors. They get a free kick in opposition territory as Luiz hauls Lemar down. Luiz is booked, and Lemar trudges off, replaced by summer signing Ivan Cavaleiro.
66 mins: Di María takes ten seconds to make an impact, whipping in a superb left-footed cross that finds Cavani unmarked. He should score, but plants his header too close to Subasic.
64 mins: Here comes Ángel di María! He’s on in place of Lucas for his PSG debut. His compatriot, striker Guido Carrillo, replaces El Shaarawy for Monaco.
62 mins: Monaco are dazed, and PSG are passing the ball around with authority, lending the last five minutes the vim and vigour of a training exercise.
59 mins: Brutal stuff from PSG, who respond to Monaco’s most threatening spell with a clinical counter-attacking goal. Matuidi, who has been key in PSG shading the midfield battle so far, almost makes it two, collecting Ibrahimovic’s delightful flick and setting off on a mazy dribble, but his tame shot is stopped by Subasic.
Cavani takes it upon himself to drift into a central area, and after neat build-up play with Maxwell, Matuidi finds the striker with a deadly cross, and a trademark near-post header gives PSG the lead!
55 mins: Ibrahimovic, who has only flickered intermittently on his return from injury, is flagged offside. The logical choice may be to move Cavani to a central position, and introduce di Maria for the tiring Swede.
53 mins: Monaco win a free kick in a familiar position, some thirty yards out on the right-hand side. Lemar clips in a low, angled cross, but it goes behind after, for some reason, two Monaco players hop out of the way of it. Not quite how it played out on the training ground.
52 mins: More impressive defending from a surprising source, as El Shaarawy comes out on top in a twinkle-toed battle with Aurier, deep in the Monaco half. Ángel di María is warming up.
50 mins: Monaco have started the second half on the front foot, and force a corner that PSG scramble clear. The hosts retain posession, with the full-backs again offering a better option, but Cavani does well, down by the corner flag, to outmuscle Fabinho and win a free kick.
48 mins: Fabinho, who wasn’t able to offer much going forward in the first half, gets deep into PSG territory and slots a pass to Martial. The striker turns smartly and cuts the ball back to El Shaarawy, but his attempt at a lob into the far corner doesn’t have the pace, and it’s a simple save for Trapp.
46 mins: Cavani shows what £50m of striker looks like, attempting a shot from a tight angle under pressure and getting the ball caught up in his feet again. Lucas is on hand to whip a cross back across the box, but Ibrahimovic’s header lands kindly for Subasic.
The second half is off and running. No changes for either side at half-time. Monaco have two of those big fabric tubes – one white, one red – billowing at the front of the stand behind Subasic’s goal. It’s hardly the Yellow Wall.
Apologies to David Scott – the Twitter is indeed abuzz with rumours, coming from France’s RMC Sport, that United could offer up to €50m (!) for the 19-year-old forward. That seems highly dubious, but he’s certainly on the radar of Europe’s big hitters, in a market that’s short of top-drawer strikers, so who knows. Here’s a link (in French).
The referee blows up after just nine seconds of stoppage time. It’s been a half short of clear chances, with Monaco hurried in possession and PSG snatching at the shots on goal they’ve created. The visitors look the more likely so far. Back in a few moments: here’s a hot transfer rumour that David Scott may have made up:
43 mins: Two minutes to half time, and perhaps both teams are happy enough with the state of things. PSG knock the ball around, just ahead of the halfway line, before Maxwell picks out Cavani with a low ball across the penalty area. Cavani’s effort is not the best, as he thuds the ball into the turf and harmlessly wide.
41 mins: PSG have a corner, but with a cabal of big men up from the back, nobody is able to get a clean head to the ball, and it deflects up and over the bar.
38 mins: Lemar’s at it again, and he’s fouled by Matuidi as the players go in for a 50-50 challenge. The free kick leads to a corner, but again, the final ball is lacking, and the visitors repel their re-energised hosts, Aurier the man on hand to head the ball away this time.
36 mins: Monaco have battled back into this, sensing their opponents aren’t quite as composed as they had thought. Traoré and Lemar are involved as the hosts enjoy their longest spell of attacking possession, before Maxwell cuts out Lemar’s low cross.
34 mins: Lemar’s delivery is an inviting one, but Motta is on hand to clear from the six-yard line. Lucas tries to break, but fouls the chasing defender, and Monaco earn another free-kick, and eventually a cheap corner, which is dealt with comfortably by the visiting defence.
33 mins: Bernardo Silva frustrates Cavani and Luiz with some fleet footwork on the right flank, before the latter cuts him down. A free kick, 30 yards out, which Lemar will swing into the box...
31 mins: Lucas is given space in the Monaco half, and with a lack of options ahead of him, gets the ball out of his feet and sweeps a low shot wide of Subasic’s far post.
29 mins: Matuidi bursts out of midfield, but his left-wing cross can’t find Cavani. All a little hurried, whether it’s Monaco trying to retain possession or PSG attempting a clinical counter-attack.
27 mins: Monaco are looking a little ragged, and after a frantic attempt to retain possession from an attacking free kick, the ball breaks to Luiz, who launches a long ball towards Ibrahimovic. The striker has time to pick a spot, albeit from thirty yards out, but his attempted lob is well, terrible. It happens to the best of us.
25 mins: Ibrahimovic wriggles free close to the goal-line, and cuts the ball back to Maxwell, well placed just inside the area. The Brazilian totally misses his kick, but Cavani spares his blushes by pummelling the rebound at goal. Subasic is on hand to turn it away with a smart low save.
23 mins: The visitors have certainly drawn the sting from Monaco, and are now enjoying prolonged possession in front of the home defence. It could be something to do with Monaco playing three games since their opponents last had a run out, of course.
21 mins: Aurier is again involved going forward, angling in a terrific swerving cross from deep on the right side. Cavani stoops and gets a head to it, but the ball skids a foot over the crossbar.
If I remember correctly, Aurier was widely tipped to join Arsenal last summer, but they plumped for Mathieu Débuchy instead.
19 mins: PSG almost unpick the home defence, with Ibrahimovic, Cavani and Lucas combining, before Cavani is flagged offside – incorrectly, as it turns out, although his ambitious scissor kick was never going in.
17 mins: Another opening, this time for Monaco, as El Shaarawy, who has gone left and right in search of space, decides to run the ball straight down the middle, and finds a gap in the visiting defence. Twenty yards out, he shoots straight at Trapp, then tumbles under the challenge of Matuidi – but there was no contact.
15 mins: The best chance so far comes PSG’s way, with Lucas again lurking on the shoulder of the last defender, before haring onto a long ball that drops his way. Suddenly, he’s one-on-one with Subasic, but can only drag a mishit shot that’s saved easily.
12 mins: PSG stick to their counter-attacking guns, with Elderson looking lively to cut out a long ball towards Lucas, nodding back to Subasic. Plenty of gusto from Monaco so far, but PSG still look the more likely to open the scoring.
10 mins: Monaco get a free kick thirty yards out, as Luiz forces Martial off the ball. Bernardo Silva crosses the ball in from an agreeable angle, but Matuidi is on hand to head it clear.
8 mins: Aurier, who flickered on a number of Premier League radars after the 2014 World Cup, is already making the right flank his own, racing to the byline and almost finding Ibrahimovic at the far post.
Here’s Charles Antaki on an early highlight of any football season:
“One of the rare pleasures of this time of year is seeing unfamiliar names at the top of tables - Reims and Rennes first and third in Ligue 1, Celta and Eibar 1st and 2nd in La Liga, Sassuolo and Sampdoria ditto in Serie A. Spoilt a bit by dear old Man City top of the Premiership, but hope rekindled by Leicester and Palace immediately below.”
It’s nice to see – it’s almost as if any team could win it. For a few weeks.
6 mins: Monaco, and El Shaarawy in particular, have started at a fair old lick, chasing their opponents down as the crowd at Stade Louis II offer what I would imagine is particularly fervent support. They almost pay for that gung-ho attitude, as Ibrahimovic finds himself unmarked inside the area, but his snap-shot fizzes wide of the far post.
3 mins: PSG work their way upfield, with Lucas seeking out fellow wide forward Cavani with a searching cross – but it drifts over the lofty Uruguayan, and out of play.
Zlatan does strut back into the PSG starting eleven, with Edinson Cavani also in the team ahead of 48 hours of spurious links with Premier League clubs. Di Maria is on the bench. Monaco opt for a rough blend of youth and experience, with Ricardo Carvalho and Jérémy Toulalan shoring things up behind a front three with an average age of 20.
Monaco: Subasic; Fabinho, Raggi, Carvalho, Elderson; Lemar, Toulalan, Adama Traoré; Bernardo Silva, Martial, El Shaarawy.
Domination. That’s the name of the game for football’s moneyed up-and-comers these days. Domestic, European, global brand reach – you name it, these guys want to dominate it. Is winning enough any more? Pah! Winning is for losers. Paris Saint-Germain, perhaps the most ostentatiously assembled of all the new breed, have found continental conquests a slower process, but on home soil, they are beginning to make a one-horse race look competitive.
PSG have won Ligue 1 by eight, nine and 12 points in the last three seasons, without ever really racing out of the traps. This season, Laurent Blanc’s team have won their first three games, conceding zero, and although August is a touch early to call a title race, they could end tonight with at least a five-point lead over all of their expected challengers – Lyon, Marseille and Monaco, who are the unlikely David in tonight’s tale.
Monaco boast an excellent record against the champions – they’re unbeaten in the league against PSG since 2007 – but have endured a summer of rapid turnover. Many of the stars that put Arsenal to the sword have moved on, with a host of hot young talent – including Manchester City’s ‘not for sale’ Marcos Lopes – arriving in their stead.
Sensing a moment of flux in a bogey side and smashing them into the dust is what’s domination is all about, but relieving them of their best players can’t hurt either. With that in mind, PSG have brought in Monaco’s highly-rated left back Layvin Kurzawa this summer, alongside Ángel di María (who could make his debut tonight) and, um, Benjamin Stambouli, bulking out an otherwise settled squad.
PSG are already odds-on favourites to win a fourth straight title; a win tonight would set the juggernaut on cruise control. Can plucky Monaco save the Ligue 1 title race? Join me from 8pm BST to find out.
