PSG vs. AS Monaco Match Gets Intriguing Twist Before Friday Kickoff

The FFF has appointed the referees for Ligue 1 Matchday 3, which will feature the PSG vs. Monaco clash on Friday. A gala match officiated by a referee who is quite controversial in our championship.

We know the referees for the PSG vs. AS Monaco clash this Friday night for Ligue 1 Matchday 3. Jérôme Brisard will be the centre referee for this French championship clash between the two-time defending European champion and the current Ligue 1 leader.

A referee who knows PSG well, since it is the club he has officiated most in his career (28 times), with a record of 19 PSG wins, 3 draws and 6 Parisian defeats, including two last season against Lyon and Marseille during the first Classique of the season at the Velodrome. Mr. Brisard also refereed the famous PSG vs. Marseille (0-1) match in September 2020, which completely degenerated at the end, notably due to a lack of control on his part, with a total of 12 yellow cards and 5 red cards.

"I don't understand why we don't have Turpin or Buquet to referee this match," Leonardo, then PSG's sporting director, fumed at the time. "We have a referee (Jérôme Brisard) who only has one Coupe de la Ligue final to his name, but not the experience for this kind of match. The referee lost control of the match, the tranquillity."

Mr. Brisard was also far from irreproachable last year during the 1-0 defeat at the Velodrome, and he was also on VAR when Wilfried Singo lacerated Gianluigi Donnarumma's face during the Monaco vs. PSG (2-4) match in December 2024. "I won't send you to review the images. There is no extra movement; he wants to avoid him, and he jumps over him. Unfortunately, he hits him... The consequences are enormous, certainly, but we can't do anything," Brisard said to François Letexier, the main referee, who did not send off Singo. Three weeks later, the FFF's Refereeing Directorate overruled the two men.

Finally, Jérôme Brisard also refereed the famous PSG vs. Montpellier (5-0) match in February 2020. A very heated match (6 yellows and 2 reds), during which he cautioned Neymar for reasons that remain somewhat unclear. Some claimed that the Brazilian was cautioned for disputing the many fouls suffered that day, but Presnel Kimpembe revealed another version after the match: "It's incomprehensible. Ney asked him why (he got a yellow), Marco asked him why, I also asked him. His answer was quite bizarre. He said that he (Neymar) was taunting the opponent, so he received a card."

To make matters worse, we also found a certain Alexandre Castro on video assistance for PSG vs. Monaco. A referee who became famous for having had a run-in with Leonardo in May 2013 after a PSG vs. Valenciennes match. Although he denied it, the Parisian sporting director received a 9-month suspension for "deliberately jostling" the referee. Leonardo left PSG a few months later.