Monaco Coach Niko Kovac saw a second successive ramping of Paris Saint Germain (PSG) with a 2-0 clean sheet at Parc des Princes.
The delighted Croatian tactician succeeded where Barcelona had failed. Sfiane Diop and Guillermo Maripan scored a goal in each half against the home team to seal the win.
The results mean Kovac’s side has stretched their win to 11 games unbeaten run and he could not hide his happiness.
“I am delighted with the performance of my team. We know that PSG is an outstanding team,” Kovac said.
Monaco was able to contain Kylan Mpappe and keep the on-form strike from finding the net.
“We played hard for 90 minutes. We deserve this victory; PSG did not have much opportunity. I congratulate my players,” Kovač said.
Kovac had branded the quest to stop Mbappe as a ‘Mission Impossible’, unfortunate for the Parisian side to crash down to a 2-0 defeat.
“A tactical match? Yes. We had to erase Kylian Mbappé because he’s a great striker. We had to double or triple the marking on him, deprive him of the ball.
“When the ball was in the middle, my three midfielders were excellent. We didn’t concede a lot of chances. Tonight it was magnificent. We have beaten PSG twice; we are thrilled,” said delighted Kovac.
Kovac revealed that he set up his team in a 4-5-1 formation to counter the threat.
“I saw the match against Barcelona. Without wanting to make comparisons, we defended very well. PSG had trouble getting through us. We were set up in our 4-5-1 and the plan worked pretty well,” he added.
Monaco captain Wissam Ben Yedder echoed his Manager in the tactics and calls on the team to take the game as it comes. he urged his teammates to give their best all the time.
“We played very well and were very strong physically. We’ll see what happens with the four leading clubs and we’ll take each game as it comes,” Yedder said.
Monaco is now the second team to beat PSG twice in the same Ligue 1 season after Nancy did in 2011/12.