Monaco Need to Turn Back the Clock to Challenge PSG's Ligue 1 Title

Up until Dmitry Rybolovlev took over at AS Monaco, there wasn't much of a rivalry between the Monegasque club and Paris Saint-Germain.

As soon as Radamel Falcao, James Rodriguez and Joao Moutinho agreed to move to the French Riviera, "Le Cashique," as it was dubbed, was the new prime-time fixture in Ligue 1.

This Sunday, PSG travel to the Stade Louis II, and despite their four consecutive titles, they have only won one league game in the principality in the last seven years.

Since they both became significantly richer, the majority of games have finished level. Last season, they swapped away wins. PSG won 3-0 in Week 4 and Monaco picked up a 2-0 win in Paris, with the league a mere formality at that point.

Going into Sunday's game, Monaco manager Leonardo Jardim knows they can't afford to drop points on the Parisians again at this early stage.

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PSG have won both games, whereas Monaco were stunned by an opening-day draw against Guingamp. Monaco start two points behind; they won't want to drop five back. However, the last time the home side beat PSG at the Stade Louis II was back in 2009.

PSG boss Unai Emery told press at this weekend's press conference: 

"

Monaco are a good team. They're going to play with confidence after their qualification for the Champions League group stage. It'll be our third game, and a difficult trip. Monaco have very good players, and a coach who has been there for three years. They're a strong team at home. We're going into the game with a lot of motivation. It's important for us to win before the international break, but - above all - to play well. We need that to improve. Sunday will be a good challenge for us.

"

Back in 2009, there was a bit of needle between the two sides but on a different scale.

At the end of the 2008/09 campaign, PSG went into the final game in fifth place—which would win a UEFA Europa League qualifying spot—Lille were two points behind but faced AS Nancy at home. PSG hosted Monaco at the Parc des Princes.

Antoine Kombouare's team, led in attack by Peguy Luyindula and Mateja Kezman, with Ludovic Giuly and Jerome Rothen in the midfield, couldn't find a way past a stubborn Monegasque defence.

Stephane Ruffier held on to a clean sheet, helped by now-Lyon centre-back Nicolas Nkoulou in defence. The game finished goalless, and PSG's European fate was taken out of their hands.

Up in northern France, Les Dogues kept 16,000 fans at the Stade Lille Metropole on the edge of their seats. After taking a 2-0 lead against Nancy, they were pulled back level after a 65th-minute goal from Nancy's Youssouf Hadji.

Ten minutes later, striker Tulio de Melo flicked on a corner to the back post, and centre-back Nicolas Plestan was there to head home the winner.

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Lille would pip PSG for the Europa League spot, and the Parisians would have to regroup for the new campaign.

Mevlut Erding was brought in, signed from Sochaux for over £7 million. They would also sign Christophe Jallet from Lorient, and Gregory Coupet replaced the outgoing Mickael Landreau in goal.

PSG started the season strong, winning three games after being held to an opening-day draw away at Montpellier.

Monaco, under the guidance of Ricardo Gomes, had won twice but lost 4-0 to AS Nancy and went into the fixture with PSG after a 1-0 loss away at FC Sochaux-Montbeliard.

With less than 10 minutes to go in the 2009 fixture, the game remained goalless, with neither side looking to give much away.

Ruffier and Coupet were holding strong while PSG's 4-4-2 couldn't find a way past Monaco's 4-2-3-1. Then, just like Emery will be hoping for on Sunday, an Argentinian midfielder stepped up to make the difference.

With five minutes to go, Monaco's Alejandro Alonso picked out a well-timed run by Park Chu-young, and the South Korea international smashed his shot low past Coupet.

Sylvain Armand was caught way out of position, but the pass and finish were deadly accurate. PSG were left to chase the game.

Three minutes later, Alonso was the creator again. Cutting in from the right, he weaved into the centre of the pitch, laid the ball off to Nene, and the Brazilian's low shot beat Coupet and found the far corner.

He would later go on to play his part and become a hero at the Parc des Princes, but that day, it was the 10,000 Monaco fans cheering his name.

Stephane Sessegnon would pick up his second yellow late on, compounding PSG's misery that day.

The result triggered a period of poor form for the Parisians; draws against Lyon, Lorient and Nancy followed. They would taste defeat again, beaten 1-0 away at Toulouse and then in Le Classique away at Marseille.

Kombouare's next victory wouldn't come until Week 12, beating Sochaux 4-1 on the road. That was a season to forget, with the club losing 11 times throughout the campaign.

It is unthinkable to suggest that this current team would be capable of losing 11 games and conceding 46 goals. It just shows the transformation that has happened in the French capital.

That's not to say that Monaco are not capable of winning on Sunday night, but there's no way Emery would let his side spiral like they did in 2009.

Monaco closed the gap to one point that season; they would finish eight points ahead of PSG, but that was only good enough for eighth place.

This season, the rest of Ligue 1 would like to see Monaco, or anyone else, push the champions all the way to the line, something that the PSG players would also relish.

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Marco Verratti admitted in Friday's pregame press conference:

"

It's good to fight for first place till the end. It gives you motivation, the desire to do more. Last season, we were like a machine! But it's never easy to win, even if you're Paris Saint-Germain. It's difficult to maintain ambition and concentration. We're going to focus on ourselves and give our all in games. I hope we'll play well against Monaco and win. It's important for us. We have already shown we're ready. We have won all our games. We're still not at 100 percent, but we're going to improve.

"

That's the worrying point for the rest of the league: This PSG side is only at the beginning of their journey. PSG will improve; they will get better.

Monaco need to find a way to emulate that 2009 performance on Sunday night, inflict defeat on Emery's side and give the league a glimmer of hope.

The Spanish boss knows that if they perform well at the Stade Louis II, take the game to Monaco and pick up the three points, it will be hard for anyone to mount anything close to a challenge this season.