Champions League: PSG advance past ten-man Monaco
Coming into the second leg of their Champions League playoff tie against AS Monaco with a 3-2 lead, Paris Saint-Germain picked up a two-all draw to advance to the Round of 16.
Akliouche with a scoring return
Ahead of the match, both teams had acknowledged the other's quality, and despite their disparate places in the Ligue 1 McDonald's table, the capital side would be wary against a side which had beaten them at home in November, and scored two quick goals in the first leg before eventually losing after Aleksandr Golovin had been sent off. That siad, the hosts would have to make do without the talismanic Ousmane Dembélé, the Ballon d'Or winner having missed the team's match at the weekend as well.
Monaco had their own injury worries, but manager Sébastien Pocogonoli would be happy to welcome back French international Maghnes Akliouche. Both sides started the match in lively fashion, but the first good chance came for the visitors, as Akliouche found Mamadou Coulibaly with a cutback but his effort flew over the bar. (9'). The match continued at a frenetic pace, and PSG goalkeeper Matvey Safonov then had to make a diving stop to keep out Lamine Camara on the half hour. Just before the break, PSG came closest to scoring, but Bradley Barcola was denied by the cross bar (41') before Akliouche gave the Principality side the lead on the stroke of halftime after a fine cross by Caio Henrique.
CAPTAIN MARQUINHOS 🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/FoTHmj3Vd2
— Ligue 1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) February 25, 2026
Marquinhos, Kvaratskhelia seal the result
After the break, with the tie still in the balance, PSG responded after being handed a golden opportunity. As had been the case i the first leg, Monaco would finish the match with tenmen after Coulibaly was sent off for a second booking just before the hour. Minutes later, Marquinhos had scrambled home from a corner, giving leveling the score on the evening and putting his side ahead 4-3 in the tie.
Six minutes later, the hosts were ahead on the evening and 5-3 in the tie thanks to Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who pounced on a rebound to make it 2-1 (66'). With twenty minutes to play, it was clear that Pocognoli had turned an eye towards Ligue 1 Mc Donald's at the weekend, as he made a triple change to bring on Mika Biereth, Christian Mawissa and Simon Adingra. Monaco would strike a goal in added time through subsitute Jordan Teze, but it wasn't enbough to level things on aggregate, and PSG will now enter the round of 16 with a match against Chelsea or Barcelona before Saturday's match against Le Havre. As for Monaco, they'll also return to Ligue 1 action on Saturday as they face Angers with an eye towards getting themselves back into the thick of the European race.
