The Ligue 1 trophy is back in the hands of Paris Saint-Germain and that’s something of a relief to head coach Mauricio Pochettino after a terrible campaign in 2020/21 when they lost the title to Lille.
PSG won their tenth Ligue 1 title with plenty to spare, but all is not so rosy as it seems in Paris, as the hugely ambitious club exited the Champions League at the Round of 16 stage, and look likely to lose their biggest asset in the close season.
So it may be stretching it a little to suggest that the Parisiens can relax!
Last summer a flurry of superstars entered the Parc des Princes as the Qatari owners splashed the cash to avoid losing the title again and hopefully, finally, win a Champions League. The arrival of the great Lionel Messi was greeted with near hysteria in the capital and as Gianluigi Donnarumma, Sergio Ramos, Achraf Hakimi and Gini Wijnaldum followed him, expectation went through the roof.
Messi brought with him seven Ballon D’ors and, alongside Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, he formed the best front-line in France, by a mile, as the club racked up 81 goals with two games to play. Messi’s magical left foot has provided plenty of chances and assists but he has been very unlucky, hitting the woodwork an amazing ten times during the campaign. Former Real Madrid star Ramos was unfortunate too, but in his case with injury as he featured only ten times on the way to the title.
Despite the big name incomings at the club, the star of the show at PSG was, without doubt, Kylian Mbappe. The French striker was simply unstoppable, with 24 goals and 15 assists, and with 60 shots he was top of that statistic too. But Paris fans fear he may be on his way out, with Real Madrid apparently set to announce his transfer to the Santiago Bernabeu. Los Blancos made a £137m bid for Mbappe last summer but this time they believe they have got their man and it’s a story we’re watching very closely here at SBOTOP.
The fight for second
In other Ligue 1 2022 news news; Marseilles, Monaco, Nice and Rennes have been battling it out for the second Champions League spot. Former West Ham star Dimitri Payet has had a great season for Olympique Marseilles, scoring 12 goals and making ten assists, while Brazilian midfielder Gerson has adapted to a more advanced position and scored three goals and made four assists in the last nine games.
But as second placed OM look over their shoulders they see Monaco coming up on the rails with five consecutive victories and now just three points behind.
Further down the table we see last year’s winners. They expect didn’t to repeat their amazing feat of 2021 and the Ligue 1 2022 betting odds gave them next to no chance, but Lille fans will be disappointed that their team is not even pushing for a European place. They currently sit in tenth place and have had problems at both ends of the pitch. Striker Burak Yilmaz scored 16 goals on the way to the title but this time he has been way off the pace, netting just four times. And the sale of goalkeeper Mike Maignan to AC Milan seems to have unsettled the defence who have conceded 45 goals compared to the 23 of the league winning 2020/21 campaign.
One place up, ninth placed Nantes have reasons to be cheerful as they ended a 21 year trophy drought last week by winning the Coupe de France, beating Nice in the final 1-0 thanks to a Ludovic Blas penalty.
Big names in big danger
At the bottom end of the table there is understandable panic among two big names as Bordeaux and St Etienne find themselves in mortal danger, both currently sitting in the bottom three alongside Metz. St Etienne are 18th and that’s as high as the other two can climb, so a nerve racking play-off ordeal is the best Bordeaux can hope for, while St Etienne still hope to catch 17th place Lorient who are three points clear with just the two games remaining.
With 89 goals conceded and a goal difference of -41 Bordeaux have the worst defence in the league and look doomed, and St Etienne, with 18 seasons in the top flight could be set to join them.
But let’s give a shout out to Clermont, the minnows who have almost certainly survived their first campaign in the top flight, five points above 18th place after losing just one of the last five games. The club, founded in 1984, has only been professional for 20 years and they have done their fans proud in their first season among the elite of France.
Clermont had the second smallest budget in Ligue 2 last season and supporters at the 12,000 capacity stadium have had the time of their lives this year. After winning their first three games they sat top of the league and club’s social media manager suggested Messi might want to reconsider his move to PSG!
And why not?
●●●
CHECK OUT OUR BLOG FOR MORE FOOTBALL STORIES & ODDS
Stay updated with everything sports and betting.
Follow us on social Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
