It’s a new wind blowing on the French football championship. Since August 5, when the footballers put on their cleats for the resumption of Ligue 1, the defenses have cracked and the goals have rained down in the four corners of France.
PSG set the tone on the third day by defeating Lille 7 goals to 1. A week later, Montpellier crushed Brest with a similar price (7-0). What madness has gripped the clubs for a month? Franceinfo: sport illustrates this phenomenon.
3.47 goals per game, the L1 at the top of Europe
Accustomed to being looked down on by England, Spain, Italy and Germany, France are showing off their chests at the start of the season. Ligue 1 is the league with the highest average goals scored per game in 2022-2023: 3.47 (170 goals in 49 games).
Of the five major championships, it’s very simple, no one does better. There is even a chasm with the Bundesliga and its gunners, who post 3.06 goals per game. The Premier League follows (2.86 goals per game), then La Liga (2.35 goals per game) and Serie A (2.33 goals per game), both at the bottom of the group.
46 years since a start to the season had not been so prolific
With 170 goals scored at the end of the first five days (despite one match less), Ligue 1 is simply experiencing its most prolific start since the 1975/1976 season, exactly 46 years ago.
However, this season is not a revolution in the recent history of the French championship. We can notice that in ten years, the teams turned little by little to the attack. In 2013-2014, the tricolor elite painfully passed the milestone of two goals per game in the same month of August (2.03). The trend has been stronger since 2019/2020. In the wake of the Parisian duo made up of Kylian Mbappé and Neymar, the French clubs have also been able to evolve, as have the mentalities of the coaches.
3 suitors with long teeth
If we take a closer look at the matches played over the past month, three clubs have blown up opposing defenses on several occasions and helped to inflate the statistics of this resolutely offensive vintage.
PSG did not wait for the third day and its card against the Mastiffs to start its festival. Against Clermont, goalkeeper Mory Diaw left the Gabriel-Montpied stadium with five goals conceded for his first of the season (5-0). The bill could have been higher because the 29-year-old doorman made seven saves.
14 – Three Ligue 1 teams have scored 14 or more goals each after five matches this season (Paris, Lens and Montpellier), a first since 1971/72 (St Etienne, Nîmes and Nantes). Festival. pic.twitter.com/rm8Fg0wpey
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) August 31, 2022
The following week, Montpellier left the Parc des Princes with five pawns in their suitcases. Only Monaco stood up to the outgoing champion (1-1), before the latter resumed their march forward against Toulouse (3-0). With 15 and 14 goals scored respectively after five days, Montpellier and Lens are trying to keep pace with PSG but remain a good distance from the Parisian ogre (21 goals). Such an attacking trio is a first for almost fifty years.
13 times decisive, Neymar on another planet
Beyond the championship itself and the teams, the individualities also shone in this month of August. In this sector, the PSG is well provided. Apart from Kylian Mbappé, he is a ghost who takes all the light at the start of the season and contributes to the offensive festival of the men of the capital. After a disappointing season, punctuated by absences, Neymar was starting from afar. But, in five days, he has already accumulated seven goals and delivered six assists. Dizzy.
The one who sits at the top of the ranking of scorers and passers in the French championship is also the most decisive player (13 times) in the major championships ahead of a certain Erling Haaland (nine goals and an assist in five games).
For him, the big challenge will be to make this upturn last and to transpose these performances on the European scene. Like L1 clubs. Because for several seasons, the French representatives have not succeeded to transfer this success in front of goal on a continental scale, to the point of being threatened in the UEFA index by the Netherlands, or even Portugal, with an exit from the European Top 5.