⚽️ ⚽️ Paris Saint-Germain ⚽️ ⚽️
Yesterday, PSG played Dijon, hoping to recover from a disappointing loss to Monaco last week, which at least temporarily sank them down a few notches in the Ligue 1 standings, to third.
They rebounded in a big way, scoring a very dominating road win at Dijon. PSG never trailed, and in fact, never even allowed Dijon to score. They took the lead early, too, as Moise Kean scored in just the 6th minute to give the Parisians the early lead.
International French football star Kylian Mbappé managed to add to that lead with the first of two goals in the 32nd minute, giving PSG a fairly comfortable 2-0 lead that they took into the locker room for halftime.
Nor did it take them long to add to that in the second half, as Mbappé again found the back of the net in the 51st minute, virtually put the game out of reach.
Dijon never solver the PSG defense, and so never managed to mount anything of a comeback. Finally, any hopes of even a miracle comeback ended when Danilo Pereira added to the PSG lead with a goal in the 82nd to ice the win.
As a result of this win, PSG jumped up to second in the Ligue 1 standings with 57 points accumulated in 27 games. They still remain two points behind Lille, which has accumulated 59 points in 27 games played. But PSG has a decisive advantage in goal differential which, if it comes down to a tiebreaker, would bounce the decision their way. It should be noted that Lyon, currently the third place team, has 55 points in just 26 games played at the time that I publish this. They are slated to play Olympique Marseille at 9pm local time, or 3 pm EST. Monaco is also still in the running with 55 points in 27 games.
It's a strange paradox: PSG is most likely on the verge of eliminating perennial powerhouse Barcelona from the Champions League, but they're only in second place in Ligue 1. That being said, I think that Ligue 1 is a better league than a lot of people think. I'm certainly not suggesting that it's on a par with the "Big Four" – England's Premier League, Spain's Liga, Germany's Bundesliga and Italy's Serie A. But it's a tougher league than it's given credit for, and PSG is spearheading the effort to narrow the gap. And with a record of 18 wins, 3 draws and six defeats, and a goal differential of +44, it's not as if they're having a disastrous season by any means. Lille, Lyon and Monaco are simply having their best campaigns in years, which combined with the fact that PSG lost a few games that they really shouldn't have lost, means they're not cruising their way to yet another (too) easily won title. I still think they'll be crowned French champions by season's end. We shall see.
ReplyDeleteIt may indeed be catching up, although PSG seems to be the only club really on the level of other elite European clubs in those other leagues.
DeleteTrue, but I think that Lyon, Marseille, Monaco and to a lesser degree Lille have the potential to do the same within the next decade or so. I'm not suggesting that they all will, just that one or two of them might. It would require massive foreign investment, though. It's no coincidence that PSG went from good to great when QSI (Qatar Sports Investments) took over. While I'm not thrilled about it, that seems to be the reality of big-name European soccer for the foreseeable future.
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