“The title is still in play. Lens aren’t giving up,” warned Paris Saint-Germain captain Marquinhos after his team’s comfortable 3-0 win over Nantes on Wednesday night. Nantes put up a fight early in the match, and even had what would have been an equalising goal ruled out for offside, but they eventually caved to defeat at the Parc des Princes.
With five rounds of games to play, PSG have a four-point lead over Lens, who they meet in the penultimate fixture of the campaign. “This is a tough league but we haven’t had a challenger like this in other years,” added the Brazilian defender. “Lens are really having a great season. It’s good for us. It keeps us working hard and focused until the end of the season. We don’t have time to dwell. We’ll be playing every three days.”
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who scored either side of a Désiré Doué strike, turned in his best league performance of the season in the 3-0 win. “He must have thought we were playing in the Champions League,” quipped Luis Enrique after the match. “He’s a high-quality player. You can see it in his technical ability but also in his character during matches.”
The Georgian, now on 16 goals this season, has been PSG’s most important player this spring. His second goal in particular, involving a long-distance one-two with Ousmande Dembélé and a slalom through the box, was the highlight of the evening. “Every game is important now. Lens are running alongside us,” said the former Napoli forward.
PSG’s crowded fixture list is self-inflicted, given that two of their league games were postponed to help them prepare for Champions League ties. The scheduling arrangements, which were publicly decried by Lens, offered welcome respite for the squad given their shortened summer break after the Club World Cup.
However, having delayed their games, PSG now face a breakneck final month of the campaign, which could have been even busier had they not been knocked out of the Coupe de France by Paris FC in January. As Luis Enrique himself pointed out, his players are now in the midst of a run of nine matches in 28 days. The chances of Kvaratskhelia, Doué and Dembélé starting together in all nine are slim.
The manager could afford to wheel out his first-choice attack against Nantes a week before hosting Bayern Munich, but he will have to turn his second-choice options during the run-in and they failed to impress in the defeat to Lyon on Sunday. Gonçalo Ramos was handed his first start in two months and scarcely made an impact, even having a penalty saved by Dominik Greif. He remained on the bench against Nantes. Lee Kang-in was also an unused substitute after his unconvincing half-hour cameo at the weekend. And Ilya Zabarnyi’s first season in Paris has been undermined by a handful of error-strewn displays.
With Lens pushing so hard in the league, PSG have relied on their regulars. Their only signing in January was the 18-year-old midfielder Dro Fernández from Barcelona. “It would have been ridiculous to sign more players,” insisted Luis Enrique earlier this week, having nonetheless conceded he will need to rotate over the next month.
The academy graduates who emerged during the autumn have watched on from the sidelines since then. Ibrahim Mbaye’s minutes have dried up, playing just over half an hour of action over the last two months; Quentin Ndjantou has been absent since the start of the year due to a hamstring injury; and Senny Mayulu has struggled with a calf injury in the last few weeks. Only the versatile Warren Zaïre-Emery, who filled in at left-back against Nantes, has consistently started since the turn of the year.
PSG have a more forgiving run-in than Lens, starting with a trip to Angers on Saturday, but their double-header against Bayern Munich will sap their energy. The last time they had a league fixture sandwiched between Champions League games was a close-run playoff tie in February against Monaco, who went on to beat PSG in the league two weeks later.
Lens are far from out of the race, as Luis Enrique and his players insisted on Wednesday night. “When you look at the season Lens have had, and the level they are playing at, it’s clear that they want to keep improving,” said the Spaniard.
A win for Lens on Friday against Brest will put the pressure back on PSG to get three points the following day. With their Champions League semi-final starting next Tuesday, their supporting cast will have to step up in the league. With Vitinha and Nuno Mendes currently doubts for the Bayern Munich match, and Fabián Ruiz only just being eased back from injury, they may even earn a return to the main stage.
Talking points
The league title may be slowly slipping away but Lens are still on the verge of a history-making campaign. They beat Toulouse 4-1 on Tuesday night to qualify for their first Coupe de France final in 28 years. The final whistle at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis was met a euphoric pitch invasion. Pierre Sage’s side turned in a performance worthy of their newfound status as France’s second-best team, with Florian Thauvin involved in all four of his team’s goals. If Lens miss out on the league title, winning the Coupe de France for the first time in their history would be a welcome consolation prize.
Nice, hovering above the relegation zone in Ligue 1, will have an opportunity to salvage their campaign after they beat Strasbourg in the other cup semi-final. Elye Wahi scored both goals in a 2-0 win, the January signing once again squeezing the most out of his team’s limited attacking drive. Claude Puel, who also arrived mid-season on an interim basis with the task of keeping the team up, could leave the club with some unexpected silverware.
This is an article by Get French Football News
