For the suspense, Ligue 1, its spectators as much as those who pull the strings, the anticipation around this Monaco-PSG was great, and many would have liked to see Adi Hutter’s men overthrow Paris. But the years pass and become similar and in the end it is often the club from the capital which ends up winning.
Last year, it was before the meeting in the Principality, on March 1 on the occasion of the 24th day (0-0), that Luis Enrique noted that the title was almost acquired and that he could prepare for the after Mbappé. At that time, the French champion was 13 points ahead of ASM and eleven over Brest.
Obviously, the championship is not at such an advanced stage but the relentless pattern seems to be repeating itself. Victorious against Monaco (4-2) in an advanced match of the 16th Wednesday evening, after leading, then being led, PSG has a ten-point lead over its opponent of the day and over Marseille. With one more match of course. But after having respectively passed 4 and 3 pawns on the lawn of its pursuers, it is difficult to imagine who in the long term will stand up to this team. A feeling quickly tempered by Luis Enrique. “Is the title playing?” No, absolutely not. We were 5 points ahead two days ago. There remains Marseille and Monaco is a very good rival,” said the Parisian coach.
“The title? It’s still early”
Obviously, the speech is a facade and for fear of appearing pretentious, the Spanish technician will not say out loud what everyone is thinking quietly. But the mechanics are in motion and it is Marquinhos and his twelve years at the club who speaks about it best. “The title? It’s still early, there are a lot of things that can happen but it’s a very important goal for the club and it hurts when we don’t win it. To win it, you need matches like this: winning these direct confrontations. When you are champion, you don’t realize the importance of these matches but when you lose them, you realize how much of a difference it makes. »
The Brazilian captain is in any case happy with the current dynamic: “I think that in each match, we try to send strong signals, to show that we are there, strong and that we take important points. At the moment, it is a strong signal for us, for our confidence and when the others look at Paris which does not lose, it is hard for them. We experienced this situation with Monaco a few years ago (during the 2016-2017 season) when Kylian (Mbappé) played there. And when we saw that he didn’t lose, it was hard for us.”
Towards matches every three days from mid-January
What could happen to make the path to a thirteenth league title full of obstacles? A calendar that could load? In the event of qualification on Sunday in Lens for the 32nd final of the Coupe de France, then for the play-offs of the Champions League, PSG will in fact continue every three days from mid-January until the international break of March. ” No. We are only halfway through the season, there are still many games to play. Until the end it’s not over,” said Gonçalo Ramos.
On the Monegasque side, we still wanted to believe that the championship title was not up for grabs but we easily admitted that Monaco no longer controlled much. “I don’t know if the championship is over. We must congratulate PSG in any case. We are ten points behind. I don’t know if it’s over. It all depends on PSG,” conceded Monegasque coach Adi Hutter.
“Is the championship folded? No. There are 18 days left after the truce. But not just for us, for all the teams in France it will be difficult. Paris is a very good team with a lot of international players. We conceded four goals today (Wednesday) again, it’s difficult against teams like that,” continued Embolo. But at a little halfway through the championship, PSG seems to be the only one to have champion dynamics.
