⚽️ ⚽️ Paris Saint-Germain ⚽️ ⚽️
Paris Saint-Germain - Troyes ( 2-2 )
Okay, so I already mentioned that PSG has won the Ligue 1 title for this year. Whatever they do now, whether they win or lose their remaining games, will not change the fact that they have already clinched that.
Still, the games are going to be played as scheduled. And so PSG played this weekend, despite the game not meaning a whole lot to them, one way or another.
They were in action against Troyes on Sunday evening. Troyes is one of the struggling teams this year. They were not so bad as to be too close to relegation. Yet, they currently are in 15th place out of the 20 teams in Ligue 1. So in other words, PSG was not playing a top notch team this weekend, or anything.
Not surprisingly, Troyes played well. Playing for pride, and with PSG likely not playing for much of anything. Yet still, PSG enjoyed a 2-0 lead after just 25 minutes of play. Then, they allowed Troyes to get back into it, eventually tying the game. That was how it ended.
Really, this was not a shocking outcome. Seems to me that PSG will not go all out in any remaining game, since they already clinched the Ligue 1 title.
The biggest story in French soccer last week was arguably Nantes's 1-0 victory over Nice in the Coupe de France final at the Stade de France. As for Ligue 1, most teams don't have anything concrete left to play for at this point, with the exception of the teams hoping to finish 2nd (which clinches a spot in next season's Champions League) and 3rd (which clinches a spot in the qualifiers for the Champions League). At the bottom of the table, teams are trying to avoid relegation to Ligue 2. I believe the teams that finish 19th and 20th are automatically relegated, while the team that finishes 18th still has a "last chance saloon" in the form of a relegation playoff against the 3rd place finisher from Ligue 2. Needlessly complicated in my view; it used to be that the top three from Ligue 2 and the bottom three from Ligue 1 simply traded divisions.
ReplyDeletePerhaps needlessly complicated, although it sounds like their motivation for doing so is not complicated at all. Like with North American sports, almost all of which have added more postseason games, an extra game likely adds a good amount of revenues, especially for the clubs involved in the game. So it makes sense on that end of it. I still don't quite get all of the different tournaments and stuff in European soccer. It sometimes feels like there are multiple championships. I do like that regular season success is rewarded more than it tends to be in North American sports leagues. There is something to be said about being the consistently more successful team throughout a season, getting past injuries and other obstacles to achieve that. But I also do like the elimination tournament style playoff system in North American sports, where the team that basically survives until the end is the clear winner. It feels like this happens at the World Cup and Euros (obviously) and in the Champions League among elite European clubs, but that this is not quite as clearly the case in the individual leagues in each nation, unless I am mistaken. Or if it does, it is not as big of a deal as in North America, with the Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals, and Stanley Cup.
DeleteIt's relatively simple. Each country has a domestic league (Ligue 1 in France, the Premier League in England, Serie A in Italy, etc.). And as you pointed out, the club that finishes first in those leagues is crowned the champion. Each country also has a domestic cup (Coupe de France in France, Copa del Rey [translated = "King's Cup"] in Spain, FA [Football Association] Cup in England, etc.) While winning those domestic cups is considered a major honor, it's not generally considered as prestigious as being crowned league champions.
ReplyDeleteAs for international club championships, the two main ones are the Champions League and the Europa League. Both are prestigious and highly coveted, but the Champions League is definitely the ultimate prize in European club soccer. It's vaguely comparable to NCAA bowl games: the Rose Bowl is of course the biggest prize, but it's also considered an honor to win the Cotton Bowl, or the bowls named after corporate sponsors: "Folks, have we got a treat in store for you: the Dorito Cool Ranch Bowl, followed by the Bounty Paper Towel Bowl and the 7-Eleven Big Gulp Bowl. Don't miss it!". Emphasis on *vaguely* comparable. Hope that clears things up.