Ligue 1: AS Monaco undone vs Paris FC as Balogun’s streak continues in vain
© AS Monaco
Paris FC blew past AS Monaco thanks largely to a blistering first 21 minutes, where they scored three goals, as they repeatedly punished the away side on the counter to ultimately run out 4-1 winners at the Stade Jean-Bouin on Friday night under the eyes of President Dmitry Rybolovlev. The result snaps the Monegasques’ streak of seven consecutive Ligue 1 victories and also ends their 10-game unbeaten series.
The Match
Nearly 1,000 travelling fans watched Monaco get hit twice in less than eight minutes, with Jonathan Ikoné (4) and Ciro Immobile (8) doing the damage early. Lukáš Hrádecký then had to bail his side out with a smart save from Maxime Lopez before Simom Adingra went close for the Principality outfit, only for Kevin Trapp to deny him.
Unfortunately, things went from bad to worse for ASM, as Ikone (21) added to the misery to make it 3-0 following a wicked transition that carved up Sébastien Pocognoli’s backline.
This finally sparked Monaco. Folarin Balogun sent a strike over on 34 minutes, then instantly made amends by beating the Paris keeper one-on-one to pull it back to 3-1. The goal maintained the USMNT star’s scintillating form, stretching his purple patch to seven successive games on the scoresheet.
Monaco kept pushing ahead of the break, but Aladji Bamba (40), Mamadou Coulibaly (45) and Ansu Fati (45+2) all failed to find a way through. At the other end, Hrádecký had to produce a point‑blank stop from Marshall Munetsi immediately after the restart (47).
The tempo then dipped, prompting the Monaco manager to turn to Maghnes Akliouche and Paul Pogba in search of fresh impetus (69).
ASM continued to pour bodies forward, but it left them exposed. Luca Koleosho missed the target on 71 minutes, then crushed them ruthlessly moments later, crashing a shot in off the bar for 4-1 (72).
The defeat halts their sequence of seven straight victories, and they’ll need a swift response when AJ Auxerre visit the Stade Louis‑II to keep their Champions League qualification hopes alive.
Pocognoli’s debrief
“It’s not for lack of warning about the difficulty of the match against Paris FC, because I knew we were going to be tested mentally. We faced a team in good form with a very effective system of play, and we paid the price today. At the same time, our good run of form may have given us too much confidence, and starting the match by conceding three goals in 20 minutes makes me realise that we weren’t paying attention to the plan we had in place this week. We started with an intensity that was out of line with what we’ve been doing in recent weeks,” the Belgian boss reflected.
“This had already happened against Marseille, but we didn’t pay the price. Conceding so many goals in such a short time is definitely due to a lack of mental preparation; I kept repeating it all week, but it’s clear we fell short in that area. We did pick ourselves up well in the last 25 minutes of the first half, creating several chances that could have given us more hope, but we missed the opportunity that Paris FC had managed earlier.”
He then added this on their incredible run ending: “Everything we’ve achieved has been through hard work and dedication. We had a fantastic run and were certainly the best team in France and Europe these past few weeks. It was bound to end at some point, but I wouldn’t have wanted it to end like this. We just need to learn the reasons for this success and this sudden end and then continue working next week to be ready mentally, physically and tactically to play against Auxerre.”
Key stats
By the numbers, the fact ASM held the ascendancy in terms of total shots (19 to 12), shots inside the box (17 to 10), touches in the box (51 to 25), passes in the opposition half (321 to 124) and overall duels won (44 to 39) illustrated they were still a serious threat despite the outcome.
Auxerre awaits
With this defeat, Monaco drop to fifth in the table. It’s a tough setback for the Monegasques, which is made all the more disappointing given Olympique de Marseille reigned supreme over FC Metz. Monaco must regroup and fully focus their energies on the huge upcoming clash with Auxerre.