Paris Saint-Germain won, Sunday April 28, its twelfth French champion title, three days from the end, Monaco offering the coronation to Paris after its defeat in Lyon. Where can we situate this PSG version of Luis Enrique in relation to that of its predecessors?
We compared several data between the current season, and the previous ones from the Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) era, taking into account the exceptionality of the 2019-2020 financial year, interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the fact that this season is the only one to have been played in a championship with 18 clubs (and therefore with four days less).
1 single defeat
Nice entry for Luis Enrique. Between the first day and his coronation (31 matches), the Spanish coach was beaten only once in the league, on September 15 against Nice, at the Parc des Princes (2-3). Lhe Aiglons opened the scoring and even led by two goals, before winning 3-2. Since then, PSG is on a series of 26 matches without defeat in the league, even if it came very close to a second defeat, Friday against Le Havre (3-3).
If Paris Saint-Germain does not lose any of its last three matches, it will end the season with just one loss, which would be a record for it and a record equaled in the history of the French championship. Before him, only Jean-Claude Suaudeau’s FC Nantes, crowned in 1995, had managed to be beaten only once over a full year; a performance achieved in a 20-club championship.
2.26 points per game
The average for the 2023-2024 season is more or less in line with that of PSG’s 13 seasons under the Qatari flag (2.30). With 70 points after 31 matches, the capital club is almost in the same passing times as last year, and quite far from 2017-2018, an exercise concluded with a L1-Coupe de France-Coupe de la Ligue-quadruple. Champions Trophy. The team, then led by Unai Emery, had 83 points at that moment.
This average of 2.26 points per match also reflects the “management mode” initiated by Luis Enrique, with a tendency to reshuffle his starting eleven according to other expected deadlines. PSG had some complicated evenings, but almost always avoided defeat. With ten draws already, it has only had one season with more points shared: 11 in 2014-2015 (and already 10 in 2011-2012).
2.45 goals per match
In terms of offensive statistics, Paris Saint-Germain is having a season slightly above its average in Ligue 1 (2.37 goals per match from 2011 to 2023). He didn’t come out on top as often as in previous seasons.
No stranger to corrections, this time he only won two matches by at least a four-goal margin: against Marseille (4-0 on September 24) and against Montpellier (6-2 on March 17). The Parisian club still has three games to increase its total, but if things stay there, it was only in 2011-2012 that it did less well in this category (only one victory by four goals). gap or more).
29 players used
Luis Enrique was able to give the impression of drawing on the reserves to complete certain match sheets. This is true if we compare with last season, where Christophe Galtier only used 22 elements in Ligue 1.
The Spaniard requested seven more but it is less than Tuchel and Pochettino, who each gave playing time to 33 players in 2020-2021 and 2021-2022. In addition to Warren Zaire-Emery, out of category, the former Barcelona coach launched three rookies: defender Yoram Zague and midfielders Ethan Mbappé and Senny Mayulu.
