PLAYER RATINGS | Monaco 2-3 PSG: Désiré Doué hands Les Parisiens upper-hand in Champions League play-off | OneFootball

UEFA Champions League, Play-off, 17/02/26

Despite missing a penalty and losing Ousmane Dembélé to injury early on, Paris Saint-Germain came from two goals down to beat AS Monaco (2-3) in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League play-off. 

The Match

It was a dream start for Monaco, who led within sixty seconds as Folarin Balogun rose at the back post to head home the opener, following a mishit cross-field ball from Nuno Mendes. The USMNT forward then doubled his tally in the 18th minute, latching onto a ball through from Maghnes Akliouche, sprinting clear of Marquinhos and finishing past Matvey Safonov. 

It looked like a night where everything would go against PSG. 2-0 down, Vitinha missed his penalty after Wout Faes brought down Khvicha Kvaratskehelia and Dembélé was withdrawn with an injury soon after. As it transpired, the Ballon d’Or winner’s exit would prove a blessing in disguise.

Désiré Doué took his place and put in his best performance of the campaign. It took him just two minutes to get on the scoresheet and it was hit shot just before half-time that was palmed into Achraf Hakimi’s path. The Morocco international did the rest from a tight angle.

From there, PSG’s night only got easier. Within a matter of seconds of the restart, Aleksandr Golovin was shown red for a challenge on Vitinha and Monaco were left to defend their lives. It was a question of damage limitation and the damage was limited, even if they head to the Parc des Princes with a deficit, a result of Doué’s calmly-taken second-half goal. Les Parisiens’ chances were limited against a compact defence, but Bradley Barcola nonetheless had a great chance to give Luis Enrique’s side breathing room, but he could not slot it through the legs of Philipp Kohn.

Monaco player ratings

Philipp Kohn – 7

There is nothing he could have really done about two of the goals. Both of Doué’s were in the corner, although he could have palmed another of the PSG forward’s shots further to safety. As it was, it was too close to Hakimi, who applied the finish. But he kept Monaco in the game with his save from Vitinha’s penalty and the late save from Barcola.

Caio Henrique – 5

Wout Faes – 3

Jordan Teze – 5

Vanderson – 5

Denis Zakaria – 6

Lamine Camara – 5

Simon Adingra – 4

Aleksandr Golovin – 2

That is two red cards in two games. Sébastien Pocognoli admitted that he was “frustrated”, and he has every reason to be. He was valuable in the first half, but he was single-handedly responsible for making the task much more difficult for the Principality club. Inexcusable. No player has received more red cards (six) for Monaco in the 21st century.

Maghnes Akliouche – 5

Folarin Balogun – 8

Maximal efficiency from the former Arsenal man, who had two chances and took them both excellently. He fed on scraps but fought for every ball.

PSG player ratings

Matvey Safonov – 5

Nuno Mendes – 4

A second performance in a row where the Portugal international was found wanting. There were acres of space in behind Mendes against Rennes at the weekend. That was not necessarily the case tonight, but his sloppy play out of the back was the reason for one of Monaco’s goals and he was susceptible on other occasions in the first-half.

Willian Pacho – 5

Marquinhos – 4

Achraf Hakimi – 6

Warren Zaire-Emery – 6

Vitinha – 5

Joao Neves – 5

Bradley Barcola – 4

Ousmane Dembélé – N/A

Replaced by Désiré Doué (9) on the 27-minute mark. His entry was the game-changing moment. In contrast to recent weeks, everything he touched turned to gold. From the minute he came on, he ran at the Monaco defence, can perhaps be accused of being too individualistic at times, but you can allow it when you have the talent that he has. He scored twice and had a hand in the third. He certainly sent a message to Luis Enrique; he deserves to be starting these most important of encounters. 

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia – 6

GFFN | L. Entwistle – reporting from Monaco