Désiré Doué scored twice after coming on as a substitute as Paris Saint-Germain rallied from a 2–0 deficit to defeat AS Monaco 3–2 in the first leg of their Champions League play-off, a match that also saw Aleksandr Golovin sent off.
Doué was introduced in the 27th minute after an injury to Ousmane Dembélé. He went on to score twice and, alongside Folarin Balogun—who also netted a brace—helped create a goal for Achraf Hakimi.
Monaco struck after just 55 seconds when Golovin met a precise cross from the left and Balogun headed into an open net. Balogun added his second in the 18th minute, finishing past Matvey Safonov after being played through by Maghnes Akliouche.
PSG were handed a route back when Wout Faes fouled Khvicha Kvaratskhelia inside the penalty area. However, Vitinha saw his penalty saved by Philipp Köhn, and PSG suffered another setback when Dembélé limped off after being a pre-match fitness doubt.
Yet Dembélé’s departure sparked PSG’s comeback. His replacement Doué struck in off the far post, and four minutes before halftime his saved effort fell kindly for Hakimi to fire across goal to make it 2–2.
Monaco’s problems worsened three minutes into the second half when a VAR review led to Golovin’s dismissal for scraping his studs down Vitinha’s shin.
Doué completed the turnaround in the 67th minute, drilling into the bottom-right corner after a neat pass from Warren Zaïre-Emery, though PSG could not extend their lead despite continued dominance.
Data Debrief: Another red for Golovin as PSG rally
Golovin’s red card was his second in consecutive matches across all competitions, having also been dismissed against FC Nantes in Ligue 1 on Friday.
PSG were already gaining control before the sending-off. Doué scored his first goal just one minute and 59 seconds after entering the match—the fastest goal by a substitute in the Champions League this season.
He also became only the second substitute to score multiple goals for PSG in a Champions League game, following Kylian Mbappé’s hat-trick against Club Brugge in October 2019.
The victory marked just PSG’s second Champions League win after trailing by two or more goals (also 3–2 versus Manchester City last January), and they could argue the result was deserved after winning the expected goals battle 2.48 to 1.19.
