Paris Saint-Germain recovered from a shambolic start as Desire Doue inspired a comeback from two goals down to beat Monaco 3-2 in the principality in the first leg of their Champions League knockout phase play-off tie on Tuesday.
Balogun headed in from close range from a Golovin cross for the fastest goal ever conceded in a European tie by PSG, and Monaco kept the momentum rolling. Monaco doubled their advantage when Balogun played a quick one-two with Maghnes Akliouche before running through to finish past goalkeeper Matfei Safonov. PSG looked completely out of it.
But then came the chaos. A shock result appeared on the cards, with PSG's title seemingly very much on the line, all the more so when Vitinha's penalty was saved by Philipp Koehn after Khvicha Kvaratskhelia had been brought down in the box by Wout Faes. That was the fourth penalty out of their last five in the Champions League that PSG had failed to convert, and things got worse for them when Dembele came off injured. It was looking like one of Europe's worst nights for the defending champions.
Dembele's replacement, Desire Doue, sparked a thrilling comeback, scoring just two minutes into his appearance before teeing up Achraf Hakimi to level the scores before the break. Then Golovin was sent off in the opening seconds of the second for a studs-up challenge on Vitinha, flipping the script entirely. There were 23 minutes remaining when Doue completed his remarkable outing with the winning goal. The impressive Kvaratskhelia combined with Hakimi and Warren Zaïre-Emery to lay a chance on for the 20-year-old finisher.
PSG heads to Paris for the second leg with a 3-2 advantage, but Monaco showed they can absolutely compete with the defending champs. The return fixture hits Parc des Princes on February 25. Check out another wild first-leg result from Galatasaray's stunning 5-2 win over Juventus from the same Champions League playoff round.