Is it because winter is coming, depopulating the trees of their foliage, that the outsiders of Ligue 1 are coming out of the woods? For the first time in several years, the French football championship does not seem to be played after a third of the course. If, as usual since its takeover, in 2011, by the Qatari fund QSI (Qatar sport investments), Paris-Saint-Germain occupies pole position, the capital club has not engaged its steamroller in this season on the calendar upset by the Covid-19 pandemic.
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With three defeats and a draw after twelve days, PSG is less serene. Especially since the recent finalist of the Champions League has hardly widened the gap on its competitors in Ligue 1 (2 points ahead of Lille, Lyon, Monaco and Montpellier), unlike in previous years. At the same stage last year, the Parisians had already relegated OM to eight points, Lille to nine and Lyon to eleven.
From there to let slip the title, as in 2012 and 2017, where Montpellier and Monaco had preceded the Ile-de-France club? The opponents of the multi-champion of France now assume their ambitions. “Winning the championship, we play for that. ” In Lille for example, like the young Dutch defender Sven Botman, after the draw conceded in Saint-Etienne (1-1), Sunday, November 29, the aims are clearly expressed.
Two points from Paris and developing a pleasant game, the LOSC, which qualified Thursday for the 16e of the Europa League final, made a solid start to the season. “I expect my team to behave like a European team”, had warned coach Christophe Galtier before the match in Forez, insisting on the importance of not being left behind in the league, despite the sequence of matches: “If we want to be in a fight, we have to be efficient. “
As often in the weeks with a European meeting, the Lille were not enough. Which made Sven Botman say: “OWe had to take all three points, so it’s a disappointment. “
Lyon, Marseille and Monaco free to focus on Ligue 1
This Lille “underperformance” allowed a tightening at the front lines of the championship. Lyon, Monaco and Montpellier widened the podium with the same number of points (23). Without forgetting Marseille (21 points), which could take advantage of its elimination in the Champions League and its two late games to recover the leader’s chair. “The Marseillais seem to come back full pot. Just like Monaco which struggled to get started but which is today a very difficult team to play ”, commented Galtier.
With the exception of Lille and Paris, all the teams fighting for the first places are no longer – or have never been this season – concerned by the European calendar. With the possible cancellation of the Coupe de France – for want of being able to resume amateur footballers in time – combined with the disappearance of the Coupe de la Ligue, the clubs will be able to focus on the championship.
Absent from European competitions for the first time in twenty years, Olympique Lyonnais is also aiming for the top again, after a sluggish start to the season. “I hope we can fight for the title to the end. It’s a difficult championship, I know we have the capacity to win it ”, verbalized the Brazilian Paqueta, last arrived at the club, questioned on Canal +.
With a workforce sized for Europe, OL could continue, but coach Rudi Garcia wants to calm the ardor of his players. “The objective is to be in the top three, we are not talking about the title, exposes the technician from Lyon. You have to be humble. It’s very tight at the top of the rankings. We must therefore continue to win matches so as not to go down very quickly and be protected from a poor performance. “
Like Montpellier, Monaco knows something about it. At the helm since this summer, coach Nico Kovac has groped to find his typical team. But like its victory against PSG at the end of November (3-2), the Principality’s club has for several meetings displayed a stability between an effective attack and a finally serene defense. To the point of stringing together four straight victories.
“We found a real balance, welcomed the Croatian coach, refusing to associate Monaco and title. Not after twelve matches, we are not there. It’s a good time for us, we have to keep working. We are a young team. “
Clashes between favorites between now and the truce
Opposed to Lille on Sunday December 6 and Marseille the following week, the Rocher club will know more about the ambitions it can maintain this season. He will not be the only one to see a little more clearly on the possible consequences, because the month of December will see several formations of the leading pack face off.
“There are quite a few teams of our level, such as Marseille, Lille and Lyon which also have good numbers, stated Monegasque defender Axel Disasi. We have to stay in this car, string together good results and we’ll see what happens at the end of the season. “
If it is too early to draw any conclusion or announce the advent of a new champion, it appears in any case that Paris no longer seems alone in the world. They are several to consider supplanting the favorite.
But, in the end, it is also and above all the behavior of the defending champion that will influence the final outcome: the course in the Champions League of PSG could cause him to lose points in the league. “If PSG misses the title, we must at least be in position”, warned Marseille coach André Villas-Boas.
