L'Equipe: Paris Saint-Germain imported 700 rolls of turf from Ireland to cover the entire pitch

According to L'Equipe, in addition to facing this French, European and world treble-winning side, Monaco, coached by Philippe, will face an extra challenge in Friday's Ligue 1 third-round match against Paris Saint-Germain: the new turf at Parc des Princes.

The heatwave in France over the past few weeks caused serious damage to Paris Saint-Germain's pitch, and the Ligue 1 authorities even temporarily prohibited the team from hosting Rennes in the opening round. The match was eventually moved to Rennes' home ground, where the two teams drew 2-2.

Paris Saint-Germain then urgently repaired the pitch, hoping to return to home action in the third round and welcome their Champions League opponent. The team will face Bratislava in its first Champions League match next Wednesday.

After an assessment, the head of the Parc des Princes pitch team concluded that a complete replacement of the turf was the only option. The new turf was transported from afar: according to L'Equipe, Paris Saint-Germain imported 700 rolls of turf from Ireland to cover the entire pitch.

The club has not announced the cost of the new turf, but French media reported that this type of renovation usually costs around 500,000 euros (approximately 3 million yuan). Paris Saint-Germain had previously also been fined 150,000 euros by the Ligue 1 authorities for failing to host Rennes at home in the opening round as scheduled.

The turf installation lasted from August 26 to 28 and took three days in total. Afterwards, the groundskeeping team began cultivating the roots, with only seven days remaining before the match against Monaco.

Paris Saint-Germain has already carried out initial tests to assess how well the roots have taken hold in the soil and believes the pitch will be ready for the match against Monaco.

As the only team with a perfect record after the first two rounds, Philippe's Monaco leads Ligue 1 with six points. Monaco also defeated Gornik Zabrze over two legs in the UEFA Conference League qualifying rounds to advance to the main competition.