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By the time Paris Saint-Germain finally travelled to Lens on Wednesday evening, they had all but wrapped up their fifth consecutive Ligue 1 title. Their six-point advantage, bolstered by a clear lead in goal difference, was already insurmountable with two matches remaining.
The match at the Stade Bollaert was billed as a top-of-the-table clash but the decision to push it back until the midweek before the final day of the campaign had devalued the occasion. Had the match been played when it was initially scheduled, at the start of April, a win for the hosts could have closed the gap to just one point with five matches remaining.
The argument put forward for postponing the match centred around the push to help Ligue 1’s European coefficient, as well as the precedent set by similar decisions in previous seasons. Using that same logic, Strasbourg had their match against Brest postponed in order to aid their (ultimately unsuccessful) Conference League campaign.
Although they eventually accepted the league’s decision, Lens published a statement in late March arguing against the postponement. At the time, they railed against the idea that the club with “the 10th highest budget should adapt according to the demands of the most powerful, in the name of interests which seemingly go beyond the domestic scope”.
By the time they met on Wednesday night, both teams were understandably more invested in preparing for their upcoming finals. Lens have the chance to win their first Coupe de France title next Friday and PSG are aiming to retain the Champions League at the end of the month.
During the match, a war of words between Lens supporters and the travelling PSG contingent laid bare the resentment over how the late-season schedule has been shuffled. In a series of incendiary banners unfurled over the course of the match, the home fans took aim at the league authorities and the champions’ Qatari ownership for “killing French football”.
On the pitch, a clinical PSG duly wrapped up the league title with a 2-0 win. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia gave the visitors the lead with his 11th goal in 13 matches, having been played through by Ousmane Dembélé. Ibrahim Mbaye came off the bench to seal the result in stoppage time with an emphatic top-corner finish. The hosts managed no fewer than 25 shots, but were thwarted at every turn by Matvey Safonov. The 27-year-old goalkeeper has not wasted his opportunity to claim the No 1 spot since the turn of the year, with the now-injured Lucas Chevalier decisively out of contention.
The post-match celebrations from the visitors were relatively muted. “My celebration is coming to the press conference,” Luis Enrique joked during his brief post-match appearance. “I already celebrated last week. We were 99.9% sure of winning the title, and today was the confirmation of that. It’s the title that we’ve savoured the most. It was the most difficult to win since I’ve been here. Lens have done a good job; it was difficult for us. It’s been a strange season for us. We had a lot of injuries, as did most teams, and we didn’t have much of a holiday last summer.”
The PSG squad’s lack of rest over the last two seasons is a particularly salient point, not least given the importance of their forward line’s relentless pressing to their success. All five of their league defeats this season have come a few days before or after a European fixture.
As their nine-point advantage now attests, though, they are by a long distance the best and most consistent team in the league. As unconvincing as their second-choice lineups have been when trying to break down domestic opponents, at least one of their stars has been on hand to provide the decisive push.
Lens head coach Pierre Sage, meanwhile, opted against addressing the controversy surrounding the postponement, instead focusing on his team’s performance. “We’re not frustrated, we’re upset,” he said of their struggles in front of goal and the outcome of the match. “We didn’t deserve to lose. The result is very unfair. We played against an opponent of such a high calibre that it’s impressive for us to have put in that kind of performance.”
While his team did eventually fade away towards the end of the campaign, Sage has overseen one of the strongest challenges to PSG’s domination. Lens have secured second place and a return to the Champions League after three seasons away. Even if they lose players this season, with the departures of Wesley Saïd and Adrien Thomasson already confirmed, there seems to be a long-term plan in place for the club to challenge at the top more consistently in the coming seasons.
This year’s title race deserved a higher-stakes finale, but Lens still have a chance to end their campaign on a high when they meet Nice in the cup final at the Stade de France next week. Luis Enrique’s men, meanwhile, finish their league season at neighbours Paris FC on Sunday before their trip to Budapest.
Talking points
Le Mans’ promotion to Ligue 1 was made official on Wednesday, with the league authorities awarding them a 3-0 win after their game at Bastia on the final day of the season was called off because home fans were throwing flares on to the pitch. The club have gone through bankruptcy and relegation to the sixth tier in the 16 years since they were last in the top flight. Now owned by a Brazilian consortium that counts Felipe Massa, Novak Djokovic and Thibaut Courtois among its co-investors, Le Mans intend to build a long-term Ligue 1 project in a city chiefly known for its 24-hour car race.
Ousmane Dembélé has been voted by his peers as Ligue 1’s player of the season for the second year running. While it would be difficult to argue against the Ballon d’Or recipient being recognised as the league’s best player, many will have pointed out that he only started nine league matches all season. Fellow nominees Florian Thauvin and Vitinha, for instance, perhaps played a more pivotal role in their respective teams’ domestic success this season. Sage’s manager of the season award, meanwhile, was met with unanimous approval.
This is an article by Get French Football News
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