Paris is sacred. PSG won its 12th French championship title on Sunday thanks to the defeat of Monaco in Lyon (3-2), and can now look forward to a historic treble with the Champions League and the Coupe de France.
The draw conceded against Le Havre at the Parc des Princes on Saturday (3-3) had delayed this new crowning but Lyon did not let the false suspense drag on for too long by relegating the Monegasques to 12 points behind the Parisians with three days to go of Ligue 1.
The outcome was inevitable in any case. The players from the capital never trembled during an exercise that they dominated with head and shoulders, unlike the previous season when they felt the breath of the Lensois on their necks until the end.
The start of the season was complicated, however, with a team in break-in mode following the arrival of former FC Barcelona coach Luis Enrique. PSG only took the lead in the ranking on November 11 in Reims (3-0).
That evening, Kylian Mbappé scored a hat-trick and Luis Enrique asked him to do more, the first episode in a tense relationship where the superstar’s announcement of his departure this summer led the technician to cut back on his playing time.
Despite this background with sporting and financial issues, no competitor has seen the back of the Parisian TGV again, which rushed towards the title without ever falling back.
The team, with an offensive and intensive game modeled by the former Spain coach, dominated the confrontations against Lyon, Marseille, Lens and even Monaco, conceding only one defeat, against Nice at the Parc des Princes on September 15.
“Must win”
For several months now, PSG has been around 10 points ahead of Monaco, Brest or Nice, annihilating any suspense for the identity of the championship winner. He is of course backed by a pharaonic budget, allowing him to miss bets of 90 million euros on Randal Kolo Muani and to pay the miraculous salary of Kylian Mbappé.
But he was also helped by the poor performance of the other L1 “big guys” Marseille and Lyon, who had been left behind in the title race for a long time.
Thus, Luis Enrique quietly declared last week that there was “no urgency” to win the title, sure of his strength – and the weaknesses of others. “It doesn’t matter when we win the championship, we’ve deserved it for a long time, the important thing is how we win it.”
The coach is also well aware of his advantages: “I said from the start that we are favorites, with the best squad and the best budget, it is even obligatory to win Ligue 1, but it was important to doing it the right way, playing well.”
Euphoria
This early title allows PSG to calmly turn towards the Coupe de France and the Champions League.
Not winning the first in the final on May 25 against Lyon, which it has just crushed 4-1, would be a disillusionment for the record club (14 titles), after having failed two seasons in a row from the round of 16. Paris will be the ultra favorite.
The Champions League, a major objective of Qatari owner QSI upon his arrival in 2011, is a different story with heavyweights like Real Madrid and Bayern Munich still in the running. But the final is within reach with a double confrontation in the semi-final on May 1 and 7 against Borussia Dortmund, whom the Parisians beat in the groups.
The prospect of playing the return match at the Parc des Princes reassures a club which is struggling to chase away the demons born from the “comeback” in Barcelona on March 8, 2017.
And the euphoria born from the overthrow of this same FC Barcelona in the previous round in April (3-2 defeat at the Parc des Princes, 4-1 victory at Montjuic) could give that extra confidence necessary for the final victory.
The hat-trick, Luis Enrique does not hide it, arouses “the motivation to do something that has never been done in France, to mark the history of the club, of the city and if it can be for the country, so much the better” .
But, he warns, “the road is still long and winding.”
