MONACO: AS Monaco punished a Paris St Germain side decimated by injuries to register a 3-1 victory in Ligue 1 on Saturday, led by captain Wissam Ben Yedder’s first-half double and assist.

Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Marco Verratti were missing for league leaders PSG but it was their defence that came under scrutiny as they struggled to cope with Monaco’s attack.

The result moved Monaco up to second place with 47 points while PSG remain top of the table, although their lead has been reduced to five points over Olympique de Marseille, who won 2-0 at Clermont.

Aleksandr Golovin opened the scoring in the fourth minute when PSG failed to clear, with the midfielder side-footing home after Ben Yedder got past three defenders to set up the shot.

Monaco doubled the lead 14 minutes later after fine work by Krepin Diatta, who pressed inexperienced 17-year-old defender El Chadaille Bitshiabu into an error that allowed Ben Yedder to fire the ball past goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

PSG halved the deficit after some neat interplay on the left flank between Carlos Soler and Juan Bernat, which opened up the Monaco defence before Bernat crossed to 16-year-old Warren Zaire-Emery at the far post for an easy tap-in.

But Ben Yedder restored Monaco’s two-goal advantage going into the break when he was released through the centre by Eliesse Ben Seghir, scoring his 14th Ligue 1 goal.

Later on Saturday, Marseille’s game at Clermont kicked off nearly 50 minutes later than planned, after incidents outside the stadium prompted security forces to use tear gas.

Players stayed inside the dressing rooms while supporters were pictured covering their faces as the tear gas drifted across the Stade Gabriel-Montpied.

The local authority told AFP around 100 ticketless fans tried to force their way into the venue and were pushed back by the security forces, before vandalising fencing to enter the car park for visitors.

Alexis Sanchez scored both goals for Marseille, netting a penalty just before half-time and then heading in a late second.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2023