This Wednesday at 9pm (CET) Paris Saint-Germain will face AS Monaco at the Parc des Princes in the second leg of the 2025-2026 Champions League play-offs (2-3 in the first leg). In a press conference, Monaco coach Sébastien Pocognoli spoke about this match and their Parisian opponent. Quotes reported by L’Equipe.
Pocognoli: “We mustn’t overthink things and we must stick to the game plan.”
“How do you manage this second leg after the 2-3 defeat in the first leg, which puts you in a difficult position?”
“It’s the context of the match, we know it. We’ll have to play with all these factors. We mustn’t overthink things and we must stick to the game plan. We want to give ourselves every possible chance, but we’re up against a very good team. We’ll have to be ambitious and think carefully about the best way to approach the match.”
“There’s been a lot of criticism comparing PSG’s performance this season to last season. What do you think?”
“Last year, I was more focused on analyzing other teams than PSG. They’re a great team that will fight for everything; that’s their stated ambition at the start of the season. It’s difficult to compare the two seasons.”
Pocognoli: “They’re the best French team we’re facing.”
“You have the opportunity to eliminate the champions.” of Europe. Do you realize the magnitude of this achievement?
I don’t want to talk about what it would represent. There are 90 minutes or more to play. We have to play, and then we can talk. We have to remain grounded. We’ll have to seize the best opportunities to start this match well in order to have a favorable outcome. We’re facing the best French team. We’ll have to be ambitious with and without the ball.
Pocognoli: “We’ll have to make the most of the ball when we have it.”
Paris had 80% possession in the first leg. How do you counter this team’s high possession rate?
We have to enjoy working without the ball. In a normal match, the time spent with the ball at your feet is limited for a player. Well, in this context, it will be even less. The minutes and seconds with the ball will be reduced. We’ll have to deal with that and enjoy working on either aspect. And then, we’ll have to make the most of the ball when we have it. After that, it’s certain. We’ll need to try and have more possession than in the first leg, even though that statistic (80% for PSG) was amplified by the fact that we played with ten men for an entire half.
The main idea will be to try and catch PSG on the counter-attack?
I expect that too. In Lens, in Marseille, in all the big away matches, it’s pretty much the same, and it will be the same tomorrow (Wednesday). We’ll have to face them and use that weapon. We’ll have to start the match strongly, even if it will be influenced by how PSG starts the match. We have to be capable of anything. We’ll have to start the match with the idea of achieving something, sticking to our values, and being ourselves. We have the role of underdog, and that’s even more true given the result of the first leg. But there’s a glimmer of hope. We’ll have to be very good and hope for a favorable outcome.
Pocognoli: “I’m very excited and very eager to be at “Tomorrow”
This will be your first match at the Parc des Princes, how are you approaching it?
There are a lot of new things for me as I discover the French Championship. I’m very excited and eager for tomorrow. It’s a special feeling for me to be here with AS Monaco at this stage of the competition; it’s a source of pride. We hope to put in a good performance, have the right attitude, and, if possible, have a good feeling at the end of the match, coupled with a good result.”
Pocognoli didn’t sell a pipe dream, but he laid out a clear framework: Monaco will have to accept playing long periods without the ball, stick to the game plan, and capitalize on their rare spells of possession. A measured ambition, almost logical, given how often PSG dictates the tempo at the Parc des Princes and how they stifled the first leg (with PSG enjoying overwhelming possession, exacerbated by a numerical advantage for a period). The message itself is classic: don’t overthink things, choose the right moments, and stay true to yourself. Except that at this level, words alone aren’t enough: to truly trouble Paris at home, Monaco will have to add more than the obvious—cleaner releases from the back, sharper transitions, and above all, clinical finishing during their periods of dominance.
In this kind of home game, the adage always comes up: PSG has only itself to fear. Monaco can be ambitious, disciplined, and willing to run long periods without the ball… but if Paris plays to its true potential, there’s room for improvement. Pocognoli knows this, even if he doesn’t put it that way: to have any hope of “stealing” from the European champions, they’ll first have to rely on a PSG side that makes life difficult for itself: imprecision, emotional mismanagement, over-controlling, or lapses in concentration during transitions.
Because at home, this PSG has one main enemy: its own complacency. And that’s precisely where Monaco must step in, without overthinking it but remaining sharp enough to turn the slightest weakness into a clear-cut opportunity.
