Kovac revels after 'erasing' Mbappe in PSG win
Niko Kovac said Monaco had to nullify star Kylian Mbappe as he revealed how the French side shocked Ligue 1 champion Paris Saint-Germain.
Monaco became the first team to beat PSG twice in a single Ligue 1 season since Nancy in 2011-2012 thanks to Monday's (AEDT) 2-0 upset in Paris.
Sofiane Diop opened the scoring in the sixth minute before Monaco defender Guillermo Maripan doubled the lead six minutes into the second half.
Mbappe was kept quiet by fourth-placed Monaco, who moved within two points of PSG and six of leader Lille through 26 matches.
Afterwards, Monaco head coach Kovac said: "I am very happy with the performance of my team. Paris are a great team.
"We played very hard for 90 minutes and we deserved the victory. They didn't have a lot of opportunities. I have to congratulate my players.
"Our plan? We had to erase Kylian Mbappe because he's a great striker. Deprive him of the ball by being three or four on him. In defence, we showed another face of Monaco, because we didn't concede many chances.
"Tonight was wonderful. This is what we needed. We managed to beat PSG for the second time, now we are going home and going to rest."
Kovac's Monaco have won their last six away games in Ligue 1 – only Lille (seven) are on a longer current run.
Monaco's only previous longer win streak away from home in the top flight was in February-August 2017 (eight).
"The top three? As I said before, we mainly have to increase the gap with the fifth and sixth," added former Bayern Munich boss Kovac, who is leading Monaco back to the upper echelon of Ligue 1, having languished ninth and 17th in the previous two seasons.
"There are still a few games left, if we have the opportunity to close the gap then we will do it. But we are not yet at the level of the first three."
