It’s almost time for the final whistle. Sunday May 23, around 11 p.m., the French football championship will deliver its verdict, from the fight for the coronation to the dreaded tickets for relegation to Ligue 2. And if the season took place in a rather special atmosphere, Covid-19 obliges, the suspense has had the good idea to invite itself until the outcome of the championship.
While Lille and PSG will engage in a distance duel for the title, respectively in Angers and Brest, no less than six clubs will try to avoid eighteenth place and the danger of relegation. Between these two extremes, the last European tickets are also to be distributed. Overview of a thirty-eighth and final day full of suspense.
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The title race: the LOSC ninety minutes from the coronation
LOSC players have burned a wild card, but keep their fate in their hands. Unable to score and held in check at home on Sunday May 16 against Saint-Etienne, Christophe Galtier’s players now see Mbappé and his PSG teammates biting their calves. But with one point more than PSG (2e) at the top of the standings (80 points against 79), it is the Mastiffs who approach this final meeting on the ground of Angers (12e) in the costume of the title favorite.
“We are able to do it. Today, it is better to be in the shoes of Lille than of a Parisian “, moreover recognized without detour Christophe Galtier, Friday, May 21, during the traditional press conference. But deprived of his captain and captain of the defense José Fonte, suspended, the Lille coach knows that his room for maneuver is limited and that his group will not have the right to relax during this last meeting. “We will have to put aside all the emotions, family, personal emotions, those related to the environment. We must be clear-headed and cold ”, added Galtier.
Because the PSG will scrutinize the slightest misstep to come to comb the Mastiffs on the wire. Confident after their success on Wednesday in the Coupe de France, Neymar’s teammates will do everything to force fate against Brest (16e). In this home stretch, LOSC will still have the advantage of facing a club that no longer plays anything in the standings, while against PSG will present a team fighting, at home, for its survival in the elite.
Monaco can also be champion on Sunday! But the scenario seems improbable: so that the Monegasques (3e, 77 points) are crowned, it would be necessary that the players of Niko Kovac win largely against Lens (6e) and that Parisians and Lille both bow at the same time. Mission almost impossible.
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The race for Europe: one eye in front, another behind
More than the top, the Monegasques will surely be busier watching their rear on Sunday. With only a small point ahead of the Lyonnais, fourth, their place in the Champions League is fragile … and it could well fly in the event of a defeat or a draw. “We do not look at the first place, it is played between Lille and PSG. We are concentrating on third place ”, insisted Niko Kovac at a press conference.
ASM will thus have a hard time facing a team from Lens, a real surprise of the season, even if it remains on three consecutive defeats in the league (against Bordeaux, but also… Lille and Paris!). For their part, the Lyonnais approach their match against Nice (9e) without pressure: assured of finishing at least fourth, they can only do better and ideally access a qualifying place for the next Champions League. “We’ll have to do the job. We are expected to have 79 points on Sunday evening », soberly commented Rudi Garcia on Friday.
Behind, the fight is close for the Europa League. The Marseillais (5e, 59 points) are ideally placed to win the sesame. Yes, but here it is: in the event of a severe defeat, they could be stolen by the Lensois (6e, 56 points). These same Lensois who will also keep an eye in the rearview mirror, because Rennes (7e, 55 points) is very urgent. At stake for the Reds and Blacks: recovering the place of Lens, synonymous with qualification for the Europa Conference Conference, the C4, the new competition created by UEFA and whose first edition will be held next season.
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Play-off place: six teams in danger
At the bottom of the ranking, there too the suspense is at its height. Good last in Ligue 1, the Dijonnais have already known for a long time that they will play in Ligue 2 next season and will be accompanied by Reims. The identity of the eighteenth in the standings, synonymous with a barrier for maintenance, remains to be defined. And they are still six clubs to fight to avoid relegation.
The Nantes (18e, 40 points) occupy the ejection seat, but remain on four consecutive wins in the league. For the Canaries, the deal is simple, Sunday, against Montpellier: above all not to lose. “There is a lot of determination and a lot of desire, but we know that, this last match, we have to win it at all costs”, explained Antoine Kombouaré, in a press conference. A draw could just as well be enough for the happiness of the Canaries coach if it is combined with a defeat of Brest, Lorient or Strasbourg, one point ahead in the standings (41).
The last two named will face each other in what promises to be the match of fear. “There is no escape, we have to achieve a result that will allow it to be maintained”Strasbourg coach Thierry Laurey said on Friday, while his Lorient counterpart, Christophe Pélissier, prefers to focus on his team rather than doing calculations. “We can control our performance, but not the rest …”, blurted out the technician.
Finally, Reims (13e, 42 points) and Bordeaux (14e, 42 points) are not yet mathematically saved from relegation. But finding one of these two clubs in eighteenth place on Sunday night would be at least as unlikely as an AS Monaco title. A draw between the two teams, who face each other on Sunday, would be enough for their happiness.