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Everything is in doubt, except for the champion: the French league opens a season in the shadow of the Corona

With 5,000 people in the stands ("absolute absurdity"), over 40 Corona cases in the league ("We are going to collide with the wall") and with very few deadlines for postponing games - the French league returns to activity after almost half a year. PSG will travel again, the battle for second place is open and so is Raikovich here

• Paris Saint-Germain
• Marseille
• Lyon
• Corona

Tomer Yitzhak

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Even before Paris Saint-Germain appear for the first time in its history in the Champions League final and try to bring France the European Team Championship for the second time in history (after Marseille in 1993) - the 2020/21 season in the French league will start with a weak response.

League 1 was the only one of the top five leagues in Europe not to return to play last season, with the last game before the Corona eruption being between Lille and Lyon on March 8, after which 11 rounds were effectively canceled. Almost half a year has passed since then and the excitement for the comeback has been great, but the global epidemic is not letting up.

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The scheduled opening match between Marseille and Saint-Etienne was postponed to September 17 due to a host blow to the host, and Greens coach Claude Powell admitted: "I'm pessimistic about this season, I do not see how the league is running under normal conditions. We should understand that we will not have too many available dates To postpone games, and soon we are going to collide with the wall. "

So far there have been over 40 Corona cases in the league, involving 11 of the 20 teams. According to the strict guidelines, each team should perform corona tests on all its members between 72 and 48 hours before the games. In addition, on the morning of the game, a test will be performed to identify symptoms. A player found positive for the virus will be sent for 14 days of isolation and if there are over three infected within eight days then the game will be postponed, as we saw in the case of Marseille. Now the meeting between Nim and Brest is in danger of being postponed due to three patients at Nim, and senior medical professionals have defined the decision to open a season with an audience presence (up to 5,000 fans in the stands) as a "complete absurdity", probably in light of the recent increase in infections.

The games between Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon have been postponed to mid-September anyway due to the Champions League, and so there will probably be only six of the 10 games scheduled for the opening round this weekend. The derby between Bordeaux and Nantes has been brought forward and will kick off the season tonight (Friday, 8pm, Sport 5).

Two new cases were reported in France today, two days before its opening game against Lance. In all, there are currently Corona patients in six top-flight teams: Nantes, Marseille, Nim, Nice, Angers and Montpellier.

Question marks this season are many, but one thing is for sure: PSG will continue to dominate the league. Even if she is not a European champion, the French treble player has enough money and enough stars to continue her dominance, and Killian Ambape and Neymar will lead to an eighth championship in nine years even after the generational change (Edinson Cavani left, Thiago Silva also finishes a contract after the final).

The runner-up Marseille, who returns to the Champions League after seven years, will once again want to win the league championship below PSG. Portuguese coach Andre Villas-Boas remains despite the managerial mess and the club may move into other hands. The squad was joined by two 21-year-old players: midfielder Pap Gay Mala Haber and Argentine stopper Leonardo Balardi on loan from Borussia Dortmund.

The third French representative in the Champions League will be Ran, who will make her factory debut after finishing third last season. Coach Julian Stefan did a tremendous job with winning the trophy and reaching the Champions League within a year and a half, and will now have to face the challenge of combining the frames. Winger Marten Treya was bought for a million for 12 million euros and also the Moroccan stopper Naif Ekrad was bought from Dijon (5 million). The faculty is largely maintained, including prodigy Eduardo Camavinga who will continue to advance.

Two of the disappointments of the previous season will stand a pretty similar test: on the one hand stands Lyon, who may have reached the Champions League semi-finals, but in the league finished seventh and therefore will not be in Europe for the first time since 1996 and may soon lose stars such as Memphis Depay and Avar. On the other hand it is Monaco, the only one who managed to break the PSG championship streak with the impressive title in 2017. The team from the princesses made another coaching change after the ninth place in the interrupted season, and hopes to embark on a new path with ex-Bayern Nico Kovacs. Goalkeeper Wissam Ben Yader remained, while captain Camille Glick left after four years and was replaced by Axel Disassi Reims.

If already purchases, at the center of the French window stood Lil. The fourth-ranked player can once again boast a huge sale (this time Victor Osiman for about 70 million euros to Napoli) and is also expected to make a buck on the brake Gabriel, with those who came in their place being the Canadian talent Jonathan David (the biggest transfer in club history) Dutch stopper Sven Botman and Turkish striker Burak Ilmes.

Lil also got the Northern Derby back, with her return to the Lance League. The 1998 champions were bolstered nicely with Gal Cacota, Venezuelan goalkeeper Wilker Parinas and striker Ignacios Gagnago, and this week also broke its transfer record with the purchase of midfielder Sco Popana from Udinese for 10 million euros. Lorraine, the second league champions to return after a three-year absence, paid € 9 million for Austrian striker Adrian Gerevic and closed the circle with veteran Jeremy Morel returning to the club where he grew up.

Nice of Patrick Vieira, who finished in fifth place and will also be in the Europa League, spent over 27 million euros on five players, including Morgan Schneiderlin who returned to France after 12 years. Roni Lopez, who starred in Monaco before the unsuccessful move from Sevilla, arrived on loan and will try to bounce Nice into the top 3.

What else? Predrag Rajkovic brought Reims to the Europa League and will try to continue to gather fans before moving to a bigger team. Bordeaux once again began a construction process, this time with Jean-Louis Gasse who replaced Paulo Sousa on the lines. Christian Gorkoff will continue to grow talent at Nantes, the Brazilian Hilton does not want to hang up his shoes and will lead Montpellier at the age of 43, and Saint-Etienne is entering a new era without its icon Luik Fran who retired with the brutal entry into Ambape in the Cup final.

• French League 2020/21

  	Group	Mash	Netz	A.	Hp	Gates	Nk
  1	Angers	0	0	0	0	0-0	0
  2	Metz	0	0	0	0	0-0	0
  3	Reims	0	0	0	0	0-0	0
  4	Run	0	0	0	0	0-0	0
  5	Paris Saint-Germain	0	0	0	0	0-0	0
  6	St Etienne	0	0	0	0	0-0	0
  7	Nice	0	0	0	0	0-0	0
  8	Nim	0	0	0	0	0-0	0
  9	Nant	0	0	0	0	0-0	0
  10	Montpellier	0	0	0	0	0-0	0
  11	Bordeaux	0	0	0	0	0-0	0
  12	Monaco	0	0	0	0	0-0	0
  13	Marseille	0	0	0	0	0-0	0
  14	night	0	0	0	0	0-0	0
  15	Lyon	0	0	0	0	0-0	0
  16	Lorraine	0	0	0	0	0-0	0
  17	Lance	0	0	0	0	0-0	0
  18	Dijon	0	0	0	0	0-0	0
  19	Brest	0	0	0	0	0-0	0
  20	Strasbourg	0	0	0	0	0-0	0

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