Paris Saint-Germain came from behind and then survived a late scare against 10-man Monaco, drawing 2-2 in the second leg of their Champions League knockout phase play-off tie on Wednesday, February 25, to reach the last 16 with a 5-4 aggregate victory.
The defending European champions came from two behind to win 3-2 in the principality in last week’s first leg, a game in which Monaco had a man sent off early in the second half. The scenario this time was similar, with French international Maghnes Akliouche giving Monaco a deserved interval lead on the night to level the scores overall.
However, the visitors had Mamadou Coulibaly sent off on 58 minutes, and that proved the catalyst for PSG to make it 1-1 through Marquinhos before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia seemed to have clinched the aggregate triumph. Jordan Teze did make it 2-2 in stoppage time, but PSG held on to progress to the next round.
“Of course at the end when they scored and had that last chance it was stressful and we had a fright, but overall once again we reacted well to falling behind and played well collectively,” PSG’s Désiré Doué told broadcaster Canal Plus.
Luis Enrique’s team will now find out on Friday their potential opponents all the way to the final in Budapest, with Barcelona and Chelsea their possible rivals in the last 16.
“Of course we can and want to improve, but there is also always an opponent and we knew how difficult it would be,” said Enrique. “The next one will be easier, no? Chelsea or Barça – not bad. But if any team is ready, it is us.”
Paris beat Barcelona 2-1 away during the league phase in October and have faced the Catalans in five knockout ties since 2013. They played Chelsea in the Club World Cup final last year, losing 3-0 – their only blip in a remarkable campaign.
Dembélé out with a calf injury
PSG were widely expected to get the better of their domestic rivals here – Monaco are currently eighth in Ligue 1, 20 points behind leaders PSG, though they did beat the Parisians in November.
The principality side had not won a Champions League knockout tie since their run to the semi-finals in 2017 with a side featuring a teenage Kylian Mbappé. Here, coach Sebastien Pocognoli set his side up in a 5-3-1-1 formation with Akliouche supporting central striker Folarin Balogun, the US national team star who scored twice last week.
Monaco, with just one victory on their last 10 trips to the Parc des Princes, may have felt the pressure was completely off them and PSG were missing last year’s Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé with a calf injury.