A meeting of Paris Saint-Germain and AS Monaco might not carry the same allure that it did just a few months ago, but for Laurent Blanc’s side it is a chance to really kick-start their domestic campaign.
PSG go into tomorrow’s encounter at the Parc des Princes in Paris fresh from an exhilarating 3-2 victory over Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League in midweek, a result that Blanc admitted was possibly his best since being appointed as coach last year.
“I will remember this win, as will the players and all those who were at the stadium. We do this job to live nights like these,” Blanc said. “We hope this really launches our season. It can serve as a reference point for us to build from.”
The champions are still unbeaten this season, but have drawn five of their eight Ligue 1 games so far and come into the month five points behind leaders Olympique de Marseille.
They also have injury problems — top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic has missed the past three matches with a heel complaint and the Swede faces a race against time to be fit to face Monaco.
Captain Thiago Silva and Ezequiel Lavezzi are also still out, and Blanc admitted that Marquinhos struggled through to the end of the Barcelona clash with a similar problem.
“Marquinhos felt pain in his thigh and played the whole second half with that pain,” he said.
However, Monaco are themselves worrying about the fitness of Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov, who has an injured ankle.
The principality club have unsurprisingly toiled since seeing star duo James Rodriguez and Radamel Falcao depart without being replaced.
That means that a fixture that was so eagerly anticipated last season is perhaps no longer the biggest showdown in the French game, but there is still no shortage of intrigue.
If PSG are unhappy at being in fourth place, Leonardo Jardim’s side languish in 12th and were beaten 1-0 at home by local rivals OGC Nice last weekend.
However, they did boost morale with an excellent draw at Zenit St Petersburg in the Champions League on Wednesday and now Jardim is hoping they can reproduce their European form in Ligue 1.
PSG could be even further off the pace at the top by the time they kickoff tomorrow, with leaders Marseille chasing a seventh consecutive win when they go to Stade Malherbe Caen Calvados today.
Also tomorrow, Olympique Lyonnais can move to within a point of third-placed LOSC Lille Metropole by beating the northern side at the Stade de Gerland.
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