The winners of the title Paris Saint-Germain still have the final of the Champions League to expect later this month, but the Ligue 1 season reaches its culminating point on Saturday with European squares still to be won and a quartet of clubs which has complained to avoid relegation. PSG has obtained a fourth consecutive national title over a month ago and will collect its trophy after the match of Saturday at home in Auxerre. The Luis Enrique team will then turn its reflections to the French Cup final against Reims on May 24 and the Champions League final against Inter Milan in Munich a week later.
Behind them, Marseille and Monaco won podiums and guaranteed access to the Champions League next season, with victories last weekend combined with favorable results elsewhere.
This leaves room in the Europe Elite Club competition to decide, with four teams – Nice, Lille, Strasbourg and Lyon – still in the running for a place in the third qualification round of the Champions League.
Nice, who failed in the Champions League qualifiers in 2017, are best placed to take the remaining place while they enter their last home game in Brest in fourth place and with the best difference in goals.
A 1-0 victory for the outfit belonging to Ineos would leave that Lille would need to win by six goals, or Strasbourg requiring a margin of victory for eight goals so that they go above Nice.
“I prefer to be slightly above the others in the table that slightly below them,” admitted the beautiful coach Franck Haise, who took lenses in the Champions League two years ago.
“To obtain fourth place, which would not be trivial, first of all, we must win. We know it.”
A discharge would give Lille a real chance, who finished fourth last season, then crossed the qualification cycles of the Champions League before reaching the last 16.
Strasbourg also retains the hope of a first campaign in the elite competition in Europe since 1979/80, despite the frustration of seeing an undefeated race for 12 games ended with a 2-1 defeat in Angers last weekend.
Saint-Etitian to survive?
Lille and Strasbourg are both at home for opponents threatened by relegation, in the form of Reims and Le Havre respectively.
Lyon, on the other hand, know that their chances of taking fourth are extremely thin. They must win at home against Angers and hope that the three teams above them all lose, with the consequences of missing the huge price in money in the Champions League probably very serious for them.
“First of all, we have to focus on ourselves,” said Lyon coach Paulo Fonseca. “We know that it will be very difficult for all the other teams to lose, but we have to go out to look for our match without thinking about the rest.”
The team ending the fifth entry into the Europa League with sixth in the conference League, although seventh place is sufficient to qualify for Europe provided that PSG wins the French Cup.
Below, Saint-Etienne gave himself a rescue buoy last weekend in their attempt to avoid immediate return to the second level.
A home victory against Toulouse will see them seize the lifeline of a two -legged play -off against Dunkirk or Metz to stay in the elite – provided that Le Havre does not win.
Reims and Nantes are not yet immune to the danger of finishing in the last three.
Key statistics
4 – Four teams enter the last night of the season with a chance to take the fourth and last place of qualification of France for the Champions League
21 – Ousmane Dembele of PSG has 21 goals and is on the right track to finish the season as top Ligue 1 scorer, although Mason Greenwood in Marseille has only two behind 19
9- The number of PSG players named in the Ligue 1 team of the season – the Lille Knight Knight Guardian and the Lyon Cherki attacker were the only two to do the Select XI
Assalers on Saturday (kick -off 1900 GMT)
Lens against Monaco, Lille against Reims, Lyon V Angers, Marseille against Rennes, Nantes V Montpellier, Nice against Brest, Paris Saint-Germain v Auxerre, Saint-Etienne against Toulouse, Strasbourg against Le Havre
(With the exception of the title, this story has not been published by NDTV staff and is published from a unionized flow.)
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