The front page of L’Equipe on Monday morning said it all, “Summer’s Already Here.” The European underachievers of Unai Emery’s Paris Saint-Germain were already looking forward to their summer holidays (and perhaps the FIFA World Cup) and it showed in their 1-0 victory over Gus Poyet’s Girondins de Bordeaux at the Matmut Atlantique.
La Une de L’Équipe et les notes de #FCGBPSG. pic.twitter.com/w4uWnbE5SO
— Vince (@VinceMalouh) April 22, 2018
Giovani Lo Celso scored in the 76th minute for PSG and he and goalkeeper Alphonse Areola were best on ground for the visitors, Areola more so with his best performance of his career, a Ligue 1 record eight saves to go with a key stoppage time sweep by Yuri Berchiche. With the win, Paris Saint-Germain have a record of 29-3-2 (90 points), 20 points ahead of Leonardo Jardim’s AS Monaco and 21 ahead of Bruno Genesio’s Olympique Lyonnais and Rudi Garcia’s Olympique de Marseille.
8 – Alphonse Areola made 8 saves tonight, his best tally in Ligue 1 & the best PSG goalkeeper performance in the top-flight since Salvatore Sirigu against St Etienne in December 2011 (8). Tentacles. pic.twitter.com/qWh2kXZIP1
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) April 22, 2018
Speaking of Monaco, the Monegasques were shockingly bad away to Antoine Kombouare’s EA Guingamp. The outgoing champions never mentally recovered from their cataclysmic demise at Le Parc des Princes and were taken to task by En Avant in a 3-1 scalp rivaling Strasbourg’s historic upset win over PSG at the Stade de La Meinau earlier this year. Guingamp’s next opponent is Paris.
17% – Guingamp have lost only two of their 12 home games against a title holder in Ligue 1 (W6 D4). Asterix. pic.twitter.com/qfdsQkeIFA
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) April 21, 2018
Monaco are 21-7-6 (70 points) and are on a two-game losing streak, a rarity given their otherwise stable form this season. As for the two Olympique sides, they have cashed in on the Monegasques’ ghastly display away with massive scorelines to boot.
10 – Monaco have conceded 10 goals in their last 150 minutes of play in Ligue 1, one every 15 minutes on average. Crevice. pic.twitter.com/nB0F0Dxcj2
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) April 21, 2018
Like the always in-form women’s team, Lyon are roaring and are the team with the form in the competition despite PSG wrapping up the Hexagoal. Unlike Monaco, Lyon were dominant on the road, thrashing Olivier Dall’Oglio’s Dijon FCO 5-2. Lyon have a balanced attack and could potentially finish second ahead of Monaco, as seen by the production of its usual suspects: Memphis Depay (4′), Nabil Fekir (53′), Bertrand Traore (77′) and Maxwel Cornet (82′).
4 – Lyon & Paris are the only teams in the Top 5 European leagues this season to have 4⃣ players to have scored min. 1⃣0⃣ goals. Unleashed. pic.twitter.com/6pejbXYwf7
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) April 20, 2018
But it is Marseille who are still alive in European competition for France and in order for them to be in the UEFA Champions League group stage, they need to first figure out Red Bull Salzburg in the UEFA Europa League semifinals. To do this, they’ll have to prepare well and that’s exactly what they did in their 5-1 smashing of relegation (and perhaps worse) bound Lille OSC at the Orange Velodrome. Florian Thauvin (12′, 30′) and Kostas Mitroglou (35, 38′) will need to be at the best this week, as Salzburg wore Marseille like a glove in the group stage.
69 – Highest tallies of points for Marseille after 34 games in Ligue 1 in the 21st century:
71 in 2009/10 (1st at the end of the season)
69 in 2017/18
Conforama. pic.twitter.com/Vkb0QwVUbb
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) April 21, 2018
Records-wise, Lyon and Marseille are on 69 points with 20-9-5 records and Lyon superior on goal differential, +39 to +31. At the very worst, OM will have another go-around of the Europa League next year. Their only remaining challenge in the league is OGC Nice, on May 6 at home. This is also the case for Lyon, who host Nice on May 19 in the final weekend of league action.
29 – Only Paris (37) & Marseille (31) have picked up more points than St Etienne (29) in Ligue 1 in 2018. Awesome. pic.twitter.com/lhqaFj1rwy
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) April 22, 2018
Interestingly, with a record of 14-8-12 (50 points), Nice are also on pace to qualify for the Europa League but the Eagles to hold off Saint-Etienne and Rennes. On top of that, if PSG successfully defend their Coupe de France against Les Herbiers, ASSE would then be in position to occupy the last European qualification spot and if OM win the Europa League, Rennes would then get a spot in the Europa League next season.
How fitting must it be in the French Republic that the two teams who contest the great domestic derby known as Le Classique, Paris and Marseille ultimately determine Ligue 1’s delegation in European competition. Combined with the three-team race for second and Champions League berths on the line, these last few weeks of football in France are going to be an absolute joy to watch. Summer may already be here for Parisians the world over, but outside of the nation’s capital, the race for second place is far from over.
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