Paris Saint-Germain were the dominant side against fellow nouveaux-riches club AS Monaco at the Parc Des Princes on Sunday night, but only managed a 1-1 draw with their title rivals. Zlatan Ibrahimović poked the home side into an early lead, but £50 million Colombia forward Radamel Falcao cancelled out his opener soon after with a scrappy effort. Monaco went into the match having only lost one of their previous 26 games, and PSG were unbeaten in 22, so both teams managed to continue their impressive unbeaten records.
The PSG full-backs were exploiting space behind the Monaco back-line from the opening minutes, so it came as no surprise when Ibrahimović volleyed in the impressive Maxwell’s tantalising cross just five minutes in. Thiago Silva played a long ball down the left wing which the Brazilian reached in acres of space, before putting a powerful ball into the box which was met by the mercurial Swede.
Monaco were penned in in the opening stages, with influential midfielder João Moutinho barely seeing the ball in the opening stages. When Monaco did come forward it was on the counter attack, with Maxwell and Gregory Van Der Wiel’s forays into the attacking third of the pitch leaving space behind for Lucas Acampos and Yannick Carrasco to exploit. Carrasco had an effort from the edge of the penalty area blocked by Salvatore Sirigu, but most of Monaco’s chances came from corners and frequent free-kicks in an increasingly heated atmosphere.
Zlatan Ibrahimović and Edinson Cavani were showing signs of gelling with an Ibra back-heel putting Cavani through, but the Uruguayan dragged his shot across the face of goal. He was made to rue that miss after 20 minutes when Monaco’s marquee summer signings, Moutinho and Falcao, combined to haul Monaco level. Moutinho whipped a delicious ball from the left wing in between the goalkeeper and the defense, and among three players on the ground, Falcao somehow managed to touch the ball into Sirigu’s bottom corner.
Forceful, almost Yaya Toure-esque running from Blaise Matuidi and excellent passing and dribbling from Man of the Match Marco Verratti, backed up by the solid and dependable Thiago Motta, left PSG’s midfield in complete control of the ball, and it was Les Parisiens who created the next opportunity. Ezequiel Lavezzi was sent spinning to the floor - adding several rolls of his own for effect - and from the resulting free kick, Ibrahimović headed just over from the center of the box. Ex-Roma man Marquinhos was finally booked for his fifth foul of the match some minutes later, with Falcao bending his free kick around the wall, but also around the post.
The Parc Des Princes must have been one of the wealthiest places on earth at that moment with both billionaire owners in attendance, but Nasser Al-Khelaifi was left frustrated when Ibrahimović found himself through on goal, only to take an eternity to make a decision. When he eventually cut back, two defenders were in his way and his curling effort (or was it a cross?) bent around the top corner with Lavezzi unable to turn it in.
Ibra was finding himself in good positions too often for Monaco’s liking, with the PSG defense and midfield using him as a target man, with Cavani, Matuidi and Lavezzi running behind him. Cavani and Ibra’s former clubs, Napoli and AC Milan, were also in action against each other during the match, but the two still don’t look like forming a cohesive partnership, with Cavani seeming out-of-place on the right wing. It came as something of a surprise, then, when the dangerous Lavezzi was taken off for Lucas Moura in a like-for-like swap, with Monaco showing attacking intent by bringing on James Rodríguez for Geoffrey Kondogbia.
Cavani and Ibrahimović both hit limp free kicks straight into the wall, and although Falcao’s hold-up play was less than stellar and Monaco had been flat in the break, one counter from Rodríguez nearly paid off for the visitors. He was lightning fast down the right wing, and although his early cross to Falcao looked delicious, it was an inch or two too high for the forward to make a telling contact. Sirigu was looking solid when shots were taken, but considerably less so when caught flapping at crosses.
The game began to fizzle out in the last ten or fifteen minutes with Monaco, to their credit, leaving the home fans quiet and anxious, but in stoppage time they nearly had something to cheer about. Cavani was blocked off but PSG maintained their pressure, and the last in a string of tantalizing crosses from the marvelous Maxwell was desperately headed over and Cavani sent a glancing header inches wide from a short corner. PSG manager Laurent Blanc was probably correct in saying, “Given the amount of chances we had we deserved to win,” but his opposite number Claudio Ranieri was left “very satisfied” with his players after a result which leaves them two points clear of PSG at the top of the table with six games played.
Written by Sam France
AS Monaco have continued their assault on the Ligue 1 title with the £52m signing of Brazil forward Hulk from Zenit St Petersburg, says the ‘Metro.’ Hulk joins other signings such as Falcao, Joao Moutinho, and Eric Abidal at the newly-promoted club, who have now spent close to £200million over this summer. Competing with PSG’s signings of Edinson Cavani and Hulk’s teenage compatriot Marquinhos from Roma, Monaco manager Claudio Ranieri has stated that more signings must be made if the Monte Carlo club are to challenge for the title in the coming season.
Eric Abidal recently signed for AS Monaco after months of speculation about his future. The former Barcelona defender wasn’t offered a renewal in the Catalan club, which met strongly split opinions among Barcelona’s fans and left Abidal to search for a new destination. Even now when the dust has settled a bit, Abidal’s situation remains very interesting as he is set for a new season in the club where he once started his career.
AS Monaco was indeed the first club of Abidal’s professional career. Having come a long way since then and played all around Europe, he now gets to symbolically finish the circle of his playing career. In Monaco, Abidal could be mainly used as a center back as he might no longer have the pace required to play on the wing. For a club like Monaco, who are making huge investments and building for the future, a player like Abidal might be incredibly valuable, not only because of his quality as a player.
It was announced on 30 May, 2013 that Eric Abidal would leave Barcelona and will not renew his contract. Abidal started his professional career with Monaco before moving to Lille and then Lyon in 2004; it was when he was at Lyon that his career really began. He made 107 appearances in all competitions for Lyon and was part of a team who won the league 3 times in a row. After winning 3 league titles in 3 years, he signed for Barcelona in 2007, where he had a release clause of €90million.
Barcelona players and staff do deserve the utmost of respect in their support for Abidal over these previous tough 2 years. As a Manchester United fan, it was a fantastic sight to see Eric Abidal lift the Champions League trophy in 2011 after their 3-1 win over Manchester United in the final.
Despite all of the events occurring in London, Manchester, Madrid and elsewhere, since this transfer season began, the eyes of the footballing world have been firmly fixed on one of the world’s most glamorous locations: Monaco. Based at the Stade Louis II on the iconic Monte Carlo seafront, AS Monaco are one of France’s most successful clubs with numerous domestic successes and Champions League Finals to their name.
It also gives them a better chance of winning silverware; although the Coupe de France is not as loved in France as the FA Cup is in England, nothing brings a team closer together than winning silverware. Again, think how brilliantly Manchester City began the next season after they won the FA Cup in 2011. That said, Monaco did win the cup in 2010, their last season before relegation to the second division.
Moutinho is known as an excellent passer of the ball as well as a tenacious ball-winner, although his scoring rate has fallen since his move to Porto. His relationship with James Rodríguez, who also makes the move from Portugal to France, should help the team to gel more quickly, as they already have a good understanding with each other.
Despite not being especially tall, he is incredibly strong and a superb header of the ball, and is one of very few people to have scored five goals in a La Liga match: against Deportivo earlier this season. With Moutinho supplying him and Rodriguez providing support, he should find scoring goals no problem against weaker French teams, and he should seek to emulate Ibrahimović’s 35-goal season last term. That in itself creates an interesting match-up, not only between the two big spending clubs of French football but also between its two biggest superstar strikers.
