Here is (finally) Ligue 1, with stakes on all levels

2020-08-20T17:10:26.897Z

Five months later, Ligue 1 finally resumed its rights this weekend. The hegemony of PSG will continue? OM and Rennes will they keep pace with the C1? Will Lyon raise its head? Response elements.

By Cédric Callier and Guillaume Loisy

Almighty Paris in France and beyond?

Sunday evening, at 9 p.m., Paris SG will play the first Champions League final in its history. The culmination of a long quest for the Qatari leaders who took over the club from the capital in 2011. Whether there is European consecration or not at the Stade de la Luz, Paris dreams of settling at the top for a long time. This is already the case in France, where it operates alone on its planet. A situation that should not change this season in view of a workforce, certainly orphaned by his locker room leader Thiago Silva (the captain will play his last match on Sunday, Editor's note) and the most prolific scorer in his history, Edinson Cavani (200 goals ), but whose stability should guarantee him a 10th title of champion of France to equal the record of Saint-Étienne. His fourth in a row after the Monegasque interlude of 2017."READ ALSO - Camavinga, Memphis, Mandanda ... these players who must still be enjoyed in Ligue 1 With a Mbappé-Neymar tandem unparalleled in France (and in the world?), A Mauro Icardi to whom Ligue 1 should make colors and a Marquinhos permanently installed in the boss's suit that suits him perfectly, PSG has no rival over the length of a championship. It remains to discover how the club of the capital can continue to grow and try to correct the few flaws in its workforce.

Back to earth for Lyon

Rudi Garcia after Lyon's elimination against BayernPanoramic

The enchanted parenthesis of the Champions League closed after its elimination against Bayern Munich in the semi-finals (0-3), the daily bread of Ligue 1 will inevitably have a little bitter taste for Olympique Lyonnais. After a hectic 2019-2020 financial year, marked by the Sylvinho fiasco and a pitiful 7th place at the time of the Covid-19 earthquake, which became final to the chagrin of Jean-Michel Aulas, the seven-time champion club of France is starting from afar. Never, since 1996, have OL played a season without a European Cup. He will have to learn to live with it. And assume it. "READ ALSO - The 2020-21 calendar of Ligue 1Car, without continental games or League Cup (deleted) to weigh down the legs in midweek, Rudi Garcia and his players will have no excuse. The challenge is real for this disconcerting team, able to knock out the big European fish and get their feet in the carpet in front of the small fry of Ligue 1, including in its Groupama Stadium (4 defeats, 4 draws and 5 wins last season). On the financial side, the jackpot of the Champions League (between 60 and 90 M € collected thanks to its semi-final) will not compensate for the losses linked to the health crisis. OL must sell. The odds of Houssem Aouar, brilliant playing master of the Gones in Lisbon, have never been higher. His announced transfer will bail out the funds (€ 60 million?). But he will leave a big void on the ground.

OM at the crossroads

André Villas-Boas continues the adventure for one more season at OMPanoramic

The past and the future. By finishing second in a last season cut short due to the health crisis, Olympique de Marseille won their ticket to the Champions League. A competition that the Marseille club had played for the last time seven years ago, with a… zero point in the group stage against a very tough trio (Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund and Napoli). Can OM do better this season? It will depend on multiple factors - draw, possible other reinforcements in addition to the Balerdi-Gueye tandem - but this is probably not the most important for a club which wants above all to perpetuate its return to the top trio of Ligue 1 While already managing a summer 2021 which could promise to be murderous with 9 players at the end of their contract, including Steve Mandanda and Florian Thauvin. The latter must have ants in his legs after a frustrating season in which he only played twenty minutes due to an ankle injury. As for the coach André Villas-Boas, many, on the Canebière, believe that it will undoubtedly be his last season on the Olympian bench. Unless OM regains its magic over time, in Ligue 1 and in Europe.

Rennes, Lille, Nice, Reims and Monaco: the ball of the ambitious

Behind the Parisian ogre, there are many who dream of the podium. Even if last season was cut short, the performance of Rennes, 3rd and directly qualified for the Champions League, opened appetites. Starting with that of the Bretons themselves, who would see themselves repeating the same shot, over 38 games this time. For this, they will have to manage the energetic group stage of C1, which will highlight the strengths and weaknesses of their workforce. They will also, and above all, have to deal with other clubs with assertive ambitions. "READ ALSO - Covid-19, diffusion, race for the podium ... The return of Ligue 1 in 10 questions Like Lille, which sold its striker Victor Osimhen very well (81.30 M €), with a small idea behind the head named Jonathan David, the young Canadian of 20 years with a good profile of future star. Nice, too, should be able to apply for a better place than last season (5th) while the Stade de Reims, already very happy to reconnect with Europe, will try to hang on to the leading cars. As for Monaco, it will be necessary to see if the mayonnaise of the new coach Niko Kovac takes quickly. And if Wissam Ben Yedder (18 goals last season) will remain on the Rock to continue to compete with the Neymar-Mbappé tandem in the race for the top scorer.

Lens and Lorient: graduates who are not novices

Lens will have had to spend five years in Ligue 2 before living his 59th season in the elite. With the ambition, of course, not to wait another half a decade to celebrate the 60th. Even longer will have been the wait for Stade Bollaert, which has not experienced a Ligue 1 match for more than nine years and the reception of Arles-Avignon on May 21, 2011. In 2014-2015, the last of the Racing in L1, the northern enclosure was being renovated for Euro 2016. No need, therefore, to explain in detail why the impatience of the Blood and Gold people is great when it comes to reconnecting with the First Division. But if the Lensois club has a lot of experience of this level, this will not be the case for its players or its coach, Franck Haise. The start of the season, with Nice and Paris SG on the program, is not going to be easy. For his part, Lorient is not a novice in L1 either, which he will play for the 14th time. Not without means. Thus, Loïc Féry, the boss of Merlus, took out the checkbook to offer himself in particular the Clermont striker Adrian Grbic for about 10 million euros. But obviously, like any good self-respecting promoter, the initial objective will always and always remain maintenance.