Friday, at the start of this 36th day of Ligue 1, monaco struck a blow in his impressive ascent to the podium. The Monegasques went to beat Lille (2-1). They thus chain an eighth consecutive victory in the league and are getting closer to qualifying for the Champions League.
The Monegasques have been on cloud nine since their victory against PSG on March 20 (3-0). For its part, Lille has already burned all its jokers after its failure against Troyes and its 10th place, provisional in the standings, prevents it from hoping for anything for this end of the season which promises to be gloomy.
Saturday evening, part of French football had their eyes turned towards the final of the Coupe de France (9 p.m.) between Nice and Nantes at the Stade de France. This meeting shakes up this 36th day of Ligue 1 and the match Nice – Saint Etiennea major shock for Europe and the maintenance, is thus postponed to Wednesday May 11, as Nantes–reindeercrucial for the Bretons in their quest for C1.
The day of Saturday thus reserved only one meeting of L1, Brest–Strasbourg. Strasbourg regained provisional 5th place and maintained their European hopes by winning 1-0. With this success, Strasbourg, which will receive Clermont next week before finishing in Marseille, regains a European place (5th, 60 points), overtaking Nice (6th) on goal difference and leaving Lyon and Lens (7th and 8th) to 5 points, before the matches on Sunday and Wednesday.
Marseille is heating up
Marseilles got back on its feet after a difficult week, marked in particular by the disappointing elimination in the semi-final of the Europa League Conference, at the Vélodrome against Feyenoord Rotterdam, and the injury of its playing master Dimitri Payet.
Its logical success at Lorient allows him to keep his second place (68 pts), ahead of Monaco (65 pts) and Rennes (62 pts, one game less). Jorge Sampaoli’s players fulfilled their mission thanks to goals from Bamba Dieng (39th), Mattéo Guendouzi (48th) and Gerson (67th). But the Argentine coach lamented the injury outings of Cédric Bakambu, Gerson and Dieng. OM will still have to work hard to get their ticket to the Champions League, especially since the hardest part is yet to come, with Rennes and Strasbourg on the program.
For Lyon, it’s almost done
A week after its prestigious success in Marseille (3-0), theOL relapsed at penultimate, beaten 3-2 at Metz : one defeat too many for a team that had no room for error. Fifth place (60 pts) synonymous with the Europa League Conference seems out of reach for the Lyonnais (8th, 55 pts), except for a miracle during the last two days. “The season is a failure”noted coach Peter Bosz, at a loss for words to describe yet another puzzling performance from his players, who had no “no excuses”.
Reduced to ten since the 68th minute, the teammates of Moussa Dembélé, one of the few to have survived, by scoring twice, cracked on a goal in the 90th from Farid Boulaya.
Lyon are preparing to play in 2022/23 a second season without the European Cup in three years, a snub for the second budget of the championship.
Lens can believe it
Lens, on the other hand, can still believe it. Captain Seko Fofana offered in additional time (90th + 2) a decisive success for Racing in Reims (2-1). After missing the C4 for a point last season, the Artésiens (7th, 58 pts) cling to their dream but they will have to achieve a full card, and hope for a misstep from Nice (6th, 60 pts, a match in less).
Bordeaux takes the broth
It may only be a matter of days: Bordeaux fell in Angers (4-1) to find themselves, alone, in last place (27 pts), behind Metz (28 pts). If the barrage Saint-Etienne (31 pts) wins in Nice on Wednesday (7:00 p.m.), the fate of the Girondins will be sealed: they will descend to Ligue 2, after 30 consecutive years in the elite. At best, they can hope to finish in 18th place.
The Angevins, who opened the scoring in the 5th minute through Mohamed-Ali Cho, left no chance for David Guion’s players, again weighed down by their friable defense. “How did we manage to scuttle ourselves in this match, the stakes of which we knew after 6 minutes? From weekend to weekend, we see our players far from their level, far from Ligue 1 in short”blew the Girondin technician.
Angers and Clermont saved?
The maintenance is very close for the SCO (14th, 38 pts), guaranteed not to finish among the last two. Clermont (16th, 36 pts) is in the same situation. The Auvergnats won a crucial meeting against Montpellier (2-1) thanks to a penalty from their striker Mohamed Bayo (68th). In the worst case scenario, they will finish in place of the play-off.
Another draw for PSG
PSG let themselves go up in score by Troyes (2-2) and conceded their third draw in a row in Ligue 1, this Sunday evening at the Parc des Princes. Since becoming French champions for the tenth time, PSG have had a string of draws. After Lens (1-1), for the coronation match, and Strasbourg (3-3) in Alsace, the Parisian club has again dropped ballast. This point, on the other hand, does the Trojans a lot of good. (15th), who take six lengths ahead of Saint-Étienne, the roadblocker.