This Friday, February 7, Paris Saint-Germain (1st) take on AS Monaco (6th) at the Parc des Princes (kick-off 9pm, UTC+1) as part of Matchday 21 of Ligue 1 2024-2025. And as before every match, here’s a presentation of the Parisians’ opponents.
Monaco’s situation –
Monaco’s project seemed to follow that of PSG for a while in the 2010s, but then it was decided to sell players for capital gains rather than aim for the best possible team. As a result, there were a lot of changes every year, and some rather complicated periods.
But Monaco seems to have regained its balance with the arrival of coach Adi Hütter in July 2023 and a well thought-out mercato. In fact, there has been relative stability during the mercato.
The Monegasque club is now 3rd in Ligue 1, with great solidity, good play and some great attacking talent. They also qualified for the Champions League play-offs against Benfica. All this despite a more difficult period in recent weeks.
The arrival of 21-year-old striker Mika Biereth is promising, but we’ll have to watch out for him tonight.
The 2024 summer mercato –
Source: Transfermarkt.
Departures:
Arrivals:
The 2024/2025 winter mercato –
Departures :
Arrivals :
Key statistics –
This season, Monaco have the 4th best attack in the league with 36 goals scored (first-placed PSG have 54 and last-placed Le Havre have 15), and the 4th best defense with 24 goals conceded (first-placed Lens have 18 and last-placed Montpellier have 46).
Monegasque top scorer is Eliesse Ben Seghir (19-year-old attacking midfielder), who is 25th in the league with 5 goals (Ligue 1’s top scorer is Ousmane Dembélé with 14). Maghnes Akliouche (22-year-old attacking midfielder/winger) is Monaco’s best passer with 5 assists, ranking 4th in Ligue 1 (João Neves, Dilane Bakwa and Moses Simon are first with 6 assists).
Monaco’s last 5 matches –
Only Monaco’s possession is shown and Monaco’s shots are put first (when data is available).
17/01/2025 (Ligue 1) – Montpellier/Monaco: 2-1. In 4-2-3-1. 68% possession. 26 shots including 11 on target vs. 12 shots (4 on target).
21/01/2025 (Champions League) – Monaco/Aston Villa: 1-0. In 4-2-3-1. 3+% possession. 17 shots (4 on target) vs. 10 shots (5 on target).
25/01/2025 (Ligue 1) – Monaco/Rennes: 3-2. In 4-2-3-1. 53% possession. 20 shots (10 on target) vs. 14 shots (5 on target).
29/01/2025 (Champions League) – Inter/Monaco: 3-0. In 4-2-3-1. 36% possession. 4 shots, including 0 on target, against 20 shots (7 on target).
01/02/2025 (Ligue 1) – Monaco/Auxerre: 4-2. In 4-2-3-1. 58% possession. 11 shots including 6 on target versus 12 shots (7 on target).
Likely squad and line-up.
Out – Balogun, Camara, Singo, Teze (injury).
The 4-4-2 team according to the press (L’Equipe) :
Embolo – Biereth
Ben Seghir – Zakaria – Magassa – Akliouche
Mawissa – Kehrer – Salisu – Vanderson
Majecki
Monaco’s style of play.
Under Adi Hütter, Monaco often played an aggressive, attacking style. However, the Monegasques have been a little more defensive this season, especially against their “big” rivals. Including PSG.
Even if they do have some nice attacking assets with possible combinations and the ability to go deep, which posed real problems at times in December and January during Ligue 1 (2-4) and Trophée des Champions (0-1) matches this season.
In particular, the Parisians struggled to control a number of counter-attacks. They’re a fine team, with plenty to trouble the Parisians. We also saw how hard they had to fight.
