Monaco, PSG meet in French clash with German accent

PARIS: Thomas Tuchel’s Paris Saint-germain are top of Ligue 1 and chasing a ninth straight win on Friday but standing in their way are an ambitious Monaco side with a German-born coach of their own in Niko Kovac.

The 49-year-old Kovac, who was brought up in West Berlin and spent most of his playing career in Germany but played internationally for Croatia, took over in the principality during the summer.

That followed a spell out of the game ater his sacking by Bayern Munich in November 2019.

At the Stade Louis II, Kovac’s remit is to revive the fortunes of a club who have struggled in the last two campaigns and are trying to return to the upper echelons of the French game.

Kovac was brought in by Monaco’s new sporting director Paul Mitchell, the Englishman who previously headed football operations at Red Bull and was formerly head of recruitment at RB Leipzig.

Among the new signings made for this season was Germany striker Kevin Volland, who joined from Bayer Leverkusen.

The new-look Monaco have had an inconsistent start and come into the weekend in sixth place. They have won their last two games but are without French internationals Wissam Ben Yedder and Ruben Aguilar because of coronavirus and suspension respectively.

Nevertheless, Tuchel expressed his admiration for a man he faced during his time at Borussia Dortmund, when Kovac was coach of Eintracht Frankfurt.

PSG are five points clear of Lille at the top and could be forgiven for having one eye on next week’s crucial Champions League clash with Leipzig. Tuchel may again be without Neymar, who has been absent in recent weeks, as he looks to relieve the pressure placed on him due to PSG’S European form.