Ligue 1: The Players who can prove they are the Best

The 2023/24 Ligue 1 campaign came to a close this weekend and the curtain fell on another fascinating season in the French top flight.

There have been some outstanding team achievements, not least Stade Brest qualifying for the Champions League and Olympique Lyonnais grabbing a top six place from their rock bottom position in December. And there have been some superb individual performances too; so today we pay tribute to the players who have gone above and beyond for their clubs and topped the stats leagues.

League winners Paris Saint-Germain have slipped up in their treble chase, losing in the Champions League semi-final to Borussia Dortmund but they stormed to the Ligue 1 title and they have a Coupe de France final date with Lyon and that promises to be a cracker. And, in his final season as a PSG player, Kylian Mbappe has once again been the standout striker and taken the Golden Boot with 27 goals of the Parisiens’ 81.

The 25 year old recently confirmed that this will be his final season at the Parc des Prices ahead of his expected move to La Liga champions Real Madrid. Of course Mbappe will be the driving force behind France’s Euro 2024 push in three weeks time but he will be a loss to the France top flight and a huge asset for Los Blancos.

Eight goals behind Mbappe in the chase for the Golden Boot came Lille’s Jonathan David who finished on 19. The Canadian striker has been with Lille for four years and has performed consistently well, scoring 71 goals in 146 games for the Ligue 1 side while making his name on the international stage with 26 goals in 46 appearances for the Maple Leafs. But Lille will do well to keep him this summer as David has emerged as a potential replacement for Les Bleus forward Olivier Giroud at AC Milan.

Alexandre Lacazette moved up to 19 goals with a final day brace in Lyon’s 2-1 win over Strasbourg and that put the cap on a brilliant campaign for the former Arsenal star and his team. If you had taken a look at the Ligue 1 2024 betting odds back in December you would have had a much shorter price on Lyon going down than winning a European place and, here at SBOTOP we have been as impressed by Olympique Lyonnais’ charge up the table as anyone.

Lacazette remains a class act and he’ll be strutting his stuff in Europe again next season.

Auba is the Contribution King

Pierre Emerick Aubameyang being the top 4 scorer in the Ligue 1 2024 — Pierre Emerick Aubameyang finished off the campaign with his 17th league goal in a 2-1 win over Le Havre.

Another ex-Arsenal player has made more than his fair share of Ligue 1 2024 highlights as Pierre-Emerick Aubamayang finished off the campaign with his 17^th league goal in a 2-1 win over Le Havre. As well as finishing fourth in the list of top scorers Aubameyang jointly topped the assist charts with eight.

PSG’s Ousmane Dembele made eight assists though he would have hoped to have scored more. Still, he did bag three in the Champions League quarter-final win over his former club Barcelona.

Lille midfielder Angel Gomes made eight assists, linking up well with David and there was one more player who finished on eight. State Brest finished third in the Ligue 1 table, one of the shocks of the campaign and winger Romain del Castillo had his best season yet with Les Pirates.

Bulka has the Golden Gloves

Poland keeper Marcin Bulka has kept 17 clean sheets for Nice and that made him the most successful goalkeeper in Ligue 1 this year. A Chelsea academy player Bulka moved to PSG but failed to make an impact in the capital city and he headed south to Nice in 2022. This has been Bulka’s breakout season and, at 6ft 6in the 24-year-old is the perfect size and age for a top flight keeper, and he will hope to make an impact with Poland at the Euros.

Among the other top guardiens, 22-year-old France U21 stopper Lucas Chevalier has kept 15 clean sheets for Lille, helping his team to a fourth-placed finish and he will be in France head coach Didier Dechamps’ thoughts in the coming weeks, while Lens goalkeeper Brice Samba registered 14 clean sheets.

The Congolese born star made the headlines in England when he saved three penalties in a 2022 play-off semi-final shootout to help Nottingham Forest climb up to the Premier League. But he was left out for the final and, after making 125 appearances for Forest Samba moved to Lens where the charismatic keeper has made the number one place his own.

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