No end in sight for PSG’s dominance
While the rest of Europe’s top leagues somehow found a way to complete their 2019-20 league seasons behind closed doors, the French – as is often their way – chose to do things differently.
Governing body the LFP suspended both Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 on March 13, and with all sporting events in the country banned until September, on April 28 they announced that neither competition would resume. Paris Saint-Germain were crowned Ligue 1 Champions having topped the table by 12 points with a game in hand when the virus stopped play. After a bit of a legal kerfuffle, it was finally decided that the two bottom sides Amiens and Toulouse would be relegated and replaced by Lorient and Lens for the new season, which got underway on August 21 when Bordeaux drew 0-0 with Nantes in a Friday-night curtain-raiser.
It’s hard to know how the unusual routine experienced by French sides this year will affect their European chances in 2020-21 (PSG, Marseille and Rennes are in the Champions League, and Lille and Nice are in the Europa League). But given PSG and Lyon’s top displays in the Champions League in August, it looks like it may actually benefit them.
Top dogs PSG are in something of a transitional phase right now, with two of the club’s talismen, striker Edinson Cavani and defender Thiago Silva, having left as free agents this summer. But head coach Thomas Tuchel still has a hugely impressive squad of players at his disposal, with Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, Marquinhos and Mauro Icardi just four players any club in Europe would like to have on their books. Such a plethora of talent has given the club a headache, in that they’ve been unable to hold on to many of their talented youngsters, frustrated by what they see as an impassable route to the first team. In the summer, PSG lost two highly-rated 18-year-olds – midfielder Adil Aouchiche to Ligue 1 rivals
Saint-Etienne and defender Tanguy Kouassi to Bayern Munich.
Despite these setbacks, it’s hard to see anything other than another season of Parisian domination. Given that they completed another domestic treble by winning both the Coupe de France and League Cup behind closed doors in July, it’s going to be mighty hard for anybody to push PSG off their perch.
Marseille have put their faith in Pablo Longoria to help them do just that. The 33-year-old Spaniard was installed as OM’s sporting director in July, having previously worked at clubs like Valencia, Juventus, Atalanta and Newcastle United. He is a fan of Andre Villas-Boas, and even tried to recruit the Portuguese coach while he was head of recruitment for Recreativo de Huelva in Spain. Longoria replaces the departing Andoni Zubizarreta to “supervise the entire sporting functions of the club, from the first team through to the academy and including recruitment.”
So far, he has recruited two 21-year-olds – midfielder Pape Gueye from Le Havre and Argentinian defender Leonardo Balerdi on loan from Borussia Dortmund – while Villarreal defender Alvaro Gonzalez has joined permanently after last season’s loan. With Marseille playing Champions League football for the first time in seven years, they will need the stars of last season to hit the ground running.
Despite these setbacks, it’s hard to see anything other than another season of Parisian domination