Mueez Ajao
– AS Monaco punished a Paris Saint-Germain side decimated by injuries to register a 3-1 victory in Ligue 1 on Saturday, led by captain Wissam Ben Yedder’s first-half double and assist.
– Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Marco Verratti were missing for league leaders PSG but it was their defence that came under scrutiny as they struggled to cope with Monaco’s attack.
– The result moved Monaco up to second place with 47 points, a point above Marseille who visit mid-table Clermont later on Saturday. PSG suffered their third league defeat this season but remain top with 54 points from 23 games.
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– Aleksandr Golovin opened the scoring in the fourth minute when PSG failed to clear, with the midfielder side-footing home after Ben Yedder got past three defenders to set up the shot.
– Monaco doubled the lead 14 minutes later after fine work by Krepin Diatta, who pressed inexperienced 17-year-old defender El Chadaille Bitshiabu into an error that allowed Ben Yedder to fire the ball past goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
– PSG halved the deficit after some neat interplay on the left flank between Carlos Soler and Juan Bernat, which opened up the Monaco defence before Bernat crossed to 16-year-old Warren Zaire-Emery at the far post for an easy tap-in.
– But Ben Yedder restored Monaco’s two-goal advantage going into the break when he was released through the centre by Eliesse Ben Seghir, scoring his 14th Ligue 1 goal to move level with Reims’ Folarin Balogun at the top of the scoring charts.
