Paris and Mbappé clinics, acrobatic Bamba Dieng, euphoric Nantes

After a convincing European week for French clubs, Ligue 1 regained its rights this weekend. At the end of a rich 18^e day, started with a frenzied game between Nantes and Lens, Paris Saint-Germain dominated Monaco without a hitch. At the back of the pack, FC Metz is giving itself a little air, like Clermont, and Saint-Etienne is sinking.

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  The match of the weekend: Nantes crunches the Blood and Gold

The “League of talents” in all its forms. “It’s a great gift to see the Beaujoire explode like this tonight, it had been a long time since that had happened. “ Friday December 10, Antoine Kombouaré, coach of Nantes, had something to exult. Opposed to Lensois “A step above” – according to him – his Canaries have reversed a badly embarked situation (3-2).

Team “thrill” since the start of the season – those caused to the public by the “Offensive game and the show we offer”, according to the striker Florent Sotoca -, Lens left, the time of an evening, the costume to the Nantes people. However, the partners of the restless Arnaud Kalimuendo started the game as usual since Franck Haise took control of the Artois club: with his foot on the accelerator. Leading (0-2) and suffocating Nantes, the Lensois thought they had done the hard part.

That was without counting the Nantes revolt, who came back refreshed from the break. “We had 11 new players in the second half, the players were great”, greeted Koumbouaré. In a second period upside down, the teammates of the international hope French Randal Kolo Muani, author of a double, caught up with the Blood and Gold. Before the newcomer Moses Simon sets the Beaujoire ablaze with a piece of jewelry sent to the artesian window a few moments before a final Lensoise occasion. In the absence of control, the perfect conclusion of an unbridled game.

• The goal of the weekend: Bamba Dieng flies away

One day, perhaps, the Professional Football League (LFP) will allow the spectacular images of its actions to be broadcast on the Internet without waiting for the day after the day of the championship. After Wahbi Khazri’s goal 68 meters from Metz goals in early November (the most distant goal scored in Ligue 1 since Opta collected the data), Bamba Dieng could have agitated social networks, and serve as the ideal ambassador for the Ligue 1. The fourth goal this season of the young Senegalese striker of Olympique de Marseille illuminated the game against Strasbourg (2-0): receiving a center from Luis Henrique, Dieng rose, and d ‘an acrobatic chisel petrified the goalkeeper and the Alsatian stadium. And OM are the new runners-up for PSG.

• The shock of the weekend: Paris in his hand

Two shots on target, two goals (including one from a penalty). The first period of Paris Saint-Germain against Monaco, Sunday, December 12, was a praise of sobriety. If AS Monaco struggled to animate the game, the teammates of Kylian Mbappé, double scorer, proceeded against. “There was a lot of intensity in the first half, but we killed the match, breathed the French world champion, at the microphone of the broadcaster Prime Video. We could have done more, but it was also up to them to pick us up. “ Never really worried, even if he has largely left the ball to the Monegasques, the leader of Ligue 1 has still not delivered a high-flying game this season. But the Parisians are increasing their lead at the top of the championship.

• Player of the weekend: impassable Anthony Lopes

“We can be happy with what we have done collectively. Maybe some time ago we would have lost this match ”. At the end of the draw on Sunday between Lille and Lyon (0-0), Anthony Lopes, the goalkeeper of Gones, wanted to underline the strength of his team. The last bulwark of OL is not for nothing in the point reported from the North by his team, the fourteenth defense in Ligue 1. Author of a leading performance against Lille, the Portuguese international defeated Burak Yilmaz on several occasions until the end of the match, preventing the Mastiffs from securing a third straight victory. A draw that does not suit anyone, the two teams remaining stuck far from the podium.

⛔ 2⃣ 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐞̂𝐭𝐬 𝐝𝐞́𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐟𝐬 for Antho Lopes this Sunday against LOSC 🙌🔴🔵 #LOSCOL https://t.co/1oEH0HsP0a

– OL (@Olympique Lyonnais)

• The weekend: end of the series in Brest

No seven in a row for Brest. After six straight wins, the Bretons conceded a heavy defeat on their lawn against Montpellier (0-4). In this duel between teams having “exchanged” their coach in the offseason – Michel Der Zakarian went from Hérault to Finistère, when Olivier Dall’Oglio did the opposite -, the Montpellier residents of a great Teji Savanier largely dominated the Bretons. Involved in the four goals of his team, the MHSC playmaker allowed his team to win. All without taking a goal, a first this season for the Brestois, who had scored in every game so far. And hope not to start a new series.

• The stat of the weekend: three shots on target … four goals

Metz gave himself air against the Bretons. In this meeting at the bottom of the table, the Lorrainers got the best of Hake entangled in a spiral of defeat – seven setbacks. In less than twenty minutes, Frédéric Antonetti’s men stunned very pale Lorientais, returning to victory at home after nearly eleven months of famine (4-1). After the opening of the scoring on a clearance blocked by Pape Matar Sarr, and a goal against his Lorient side, Farid Boulaya scored the third goal in Metz on a direct free kick. Authors of four goals but only three shots on target, the Lorraine people left the relegation zone to the Lorient, and seized the place of barrage.

🔥 @FCMetz gives himself some air 👉 https://t.co/m4al3yT302 #FCMFCL https://t.co/53aGRtsu8w

– Ligue1UberEats (@Ligue 1 Uber Eats)

Saint-Etienne is still digging. After the dismissal of the coach Claude Puel, Julien Sablé, former player of Saint-Etienne, settled on the bench, on an interim basis. For his first match, Saturday against Reims, he saw his team scuttled, quickly reduced to ten (0-2). With ten defeats in 18 matches, and only 12 points, Saint-Etienne is last in Ligue 1.

Nice relaunches in Rennes. Nice hadn’t won for three games. And on the lawn of Rennes, the men of Christophe Galtier have revived (2-1). A part where the Gym players have shown efficiency, unlike the Bretons. “We have success”, recognized the technician from Nice, greeting The “commitment and abnegation” of his flock. “When we play against people stronger than us, there is always more effort and concentration, today it is over. “ And Nice returns to a length of the Bretons in the classification (third) of a Ligue 1 always more hooked.