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Review

Ligue 1: Prestigious victory for AS Monaco and Paul Pogba against Paris Saint-Germain

By Edward Stratmann
Published on 30 November 2025
5 minutes read
© AS Monaco
By Edward Stratmann
- 30 November 2025
5 minutes read

The club from the Principality secured a home victory against the reigning French champions in this highly anticipated Ligue 1 clash of Matchday 14, played before a sold-out crowd. This crucial win allows Sébastien Pocognoli’s men to close the gap to seven points behind their opponents in the standings.

Three days after a frustrating Champions League draw away to Cypriot side Pafos, AS Monaco returned to winning ways this Saturday afternoon against Paris Saint-Germain. A narrow but precious victory, clinched by a lone goal from Japanese ace Takumi Minamino (1-0), ended a run of three consecutive league defeats.

Parisians challenged

To defeat Luis Enrique’s masterful outfit, Pocognoli opted to maintain his four-man defence, with Thilo Kehrer as captain alongside Mohammed Salisu and Brazilians Caio Henrique and Vanderson on the flanks. With Denis Zakaria suspended, Jordan Teze partnered Lamine Camara. Minamino, Aleksandr Golovin, Maghnes Akliouche and Folarin Balogun retained their places in attack. Paul Pogba started on the bench. The ceremonial kick-off was performed by two Olympic champions, Armand Duplantis and Letsile Tebogo, accompanied by former club legend Ludovic Giuly.

Armand Duplantis and Letsile Tebogo © AS Monaco
Ligue 1: AS Monaco aiming to make a big statement against Paris Saint-Germain

Monaco threatened the Paris goal for the first time early on, as Salisu fired a shot that Lucas Chevalier easily saved (4′). Less than ten minutes later, Chevalier was on the receiving end of a heavy challenge from Camara. The midfielder received only a yellow card from international referee Clément Turpin, despite the entire Paris bench calling for a red.

Having overcome the scare of playing with ten men, the Red and White players suffered another blow when PSG’s Portuguese wizard Vitinha saw his effort parried with difficulty by goalkeeper Lukáš Hrádecký and cleared by the defence in the ensuing play (26′). Two minutes later, the Red and Whites responded via Minamino. The attacker was denied by the Parisian keeper after a delivery from Balogun, though, who had been set up well by Golovin (28′). Moments later, the Ghanaian defender distinguished himself again with a header from a Henrique free kick, but it struck the post (33′).

Folarin Balogun
© AS Monaco

The two teams continued to trade blows, each creating chances in turn. Georgian Khvicha Kvaratskhelia curled a shot with his right foot, but the Finn deflected it with his opposite hand (35′), five minutes before the number 22 had a goal disallowed for offside. Akliouche’s colleagues dominated possession but couldn’t find a way through in a first half where the Parisians seemed less assertive than usual.

Minamino the hero

Upon returning from the locker room, the European champions tried to break the deadlock, but neither the Georgian winger (54′), stopped by Hrádecký, or the young striker Senny Mayulu with a header, managed to open the scoring (55′).

The breakthrough finally came from the former Liverpool player. From a Salisu pass, Golovin beat PSG’s Warren Zaïre-Emery and laid the ball off to the #18, who unleashed a left-footed attempt past the ex-Lille goalie (68′). His second goal of the week and his third in the league.

Ten minutes later, another turning point came when Kehrer was sent off after a VAR review for denying Ibrahim Mbaye a goal-scoring opportunity. Pogba’s teammates, who entered the game to applause at the Stade Louis-II (his first appearance at the stadium in the 86th minute), finished with ten men and then withstood many attacks from the capital club. But Quentin Ndjantou, Vitinha or João Neves in the dying seconds couldn’t bank an equaliser. A huge relief for the whole Monaco bench, who could celebrate this victory in front of the 11,500 fans in attendance in the Principality.

Pocognoli’s debrief

Monaco secured their first victory of the season against a top side in both the league and Europe. They kept a clean sheet as well, a feat they hadn’t achieved since their trip to Norway earlier this month. “It was a complete performance in many respects. It’s obviously satisfying to get back to winning ways, regardless of the opponent, especially against one of the best teams in Europe, if not the best. I saw myself in my team today,” said Pocognoli in the post-match press conference.

For his part, General Manager Thiago Scuro also spoke to reporters, stating: “In my opinion, we deserved to win. We created a lot of chances. We could have scored more, but that’s something we’ll need to work on in the future. Congratulations to the players and the coach who raised their game in a big match.”

ASM now has three matches remaining before the winter break. The first will be an away game against Brest next Saturday (7 p.m.), followed by hosting Galatasaray in the Champions League on Tuesday the 9th (9 p.m.), before travelling to Marseille two weeks from now.