Ligue 1 Matchday 17

Paris Saint-Germain FC vs OGC Nice Cote d’Azur
Parc des Princes, Paris, France
2:45pm EST

Hello again everybody! This week in the Lewnau Sports Bureau, we will shift our attention from last week’s El Clasico in Spain to France as I focus on the monster matchup in Ligue 1 between Paris Saint-Germain and Nice.  This game figures to be a real spectacle inside the City of Love’s Parc des Princes as two of Ligue 1’s top three team’s square off.  So let’s jump right into the nitty gritty as I’ll provide you with club backgrounds, key players to watch, and my usual LSB prediction!

Club Backgrounds

This year’s Ligue 1 season has been a real surprise for many, including me, as Nice has jumped out of the gate, firing at all cylinders, and currently leading the league by three points as we near the midway point of the 2016-17 campaign.  By comparison, last season Nice finished fourth in Ligue 1 and three places behind the eventual champions PSG, not to shabby I’d say.  In stating that however, in finishing fourth, Nice was left a whopping 33 points adrift of Paris!  That’s incredible! Les Parisians only lost twice all season and won 30 out of 38 matches.  Thus, seeing Nice, sitting atop of the table this go round is quit remarkable!  The question is, can Nice hold on and win its fifth league title in club history and first since 1959?

Conversely, PSG has flat-out dominated Ligue 1 over the past half decade, as the club has won four consecutive league titles spanning from the 2012-13 through 2015-16 seasons.  In addition, the club has won back-to-back domestic trebles, which includes winning the domestic league, league cup, and domestic cup all within the same season. With that said, things have changed this campaign.  For starters, apparently this unmatched domestic success wasn’t enough for former manager Laurent Blanc to keep his job at PSG.  Nasser Al-Khelaifi wasn’t pleased with the four consecutive quarterfinal exits in the Champions League, thus he made the move to bring in Unai Emery, a man that has an accomplished European track record.  Emery recently lead Sevilla to three consecutive Europa League Titles, a first within the tournaments history.  It was clear that Al-Khelaifi thought that this second-tier European tournament success could translate into PSG having better success within the Champions League.  The jury is still out in that regard, as the Group Stage is about to finish up with Matchday 6 being held on Tuesday and Wednesday and the Knockouts not starting until February.  But what jury isn’t still out is the lack of success that this PSG squad is having domestically this term.  And I don’t think that its a fluke either.  Emery, while achieving great things on the European stage, failed to finish in La Liga’s top four with Sevilla each season at the helm, and while PSG will undoubtedly finish in the top four in France, unless Les Parisians win the title again, this domestic season will be a complete disappointment and embarrassment after winning the league by 31 points just a season ago.  But, they are just four points back of Nice currently, with 21 matchdays to go, so there’s plenty of time to catch and breakaway from Nice and Monaco.  Can the run of good form start this weekend with a big result against Nice?

Key Players to Watch

The most intriguing figure to step foot onto the pitch in Paris this weekend is the enigmatic Mario Balotelli.  He’s a physical center forward, who likes to thunder forward towards goal, but has often times let the football community down by not taking the game of football and his responsibilities for it seriously enough.  This season however, deemed “his last chance at big time European club football” has harnessed his talents, focused on the game, has become areliable asset, and in doing so is playing some splendid football.  So good in fact, that the Italian manager Giampiero Ventura has recently sat down with Mario in talks of making a comeback to the Italian National Team in the near future.  He currently has six league goals, which is good for 12th overall, and second on his team.  Who is first in goalscorer for Nice you might ask?  That’d be Alassane Plea.  He has netted nine times for Les Aiglones, which puts him third in Ligue 1.  Thus, expect Nice to push forward and create multiple scoring chances in this match, likely putting a couple past Trapp or Areola.

As for PSG, Edinson Cavani leads the line.  He’s a player with tremendous ability and becoming much more consistent this year for Les Bleus now that he isn’t in Zlatan’s shadow any longer.  And it shows, as Cavani is currently the top goalscorer in Ligue 1 with 14 goals.  Recently he netted for the 100th time at PSG, ranking second behind Zlatan Ibrahimovic for most goals at the club.  In addition, after putting away that penalty, he made a nice and emotional gesture of remembrance for the victims of the Chapecoense airline crash last week, as he removed his jersey to display a Chapecoense shirt underneath with his arms stretched out and looking to the sky.  Very classy, despite the yellow card he received for the removal of his kit. Quit ridiculous to be cautioned.  Anyhow, look for Cavani to out perform his counterparts at the other end of the pitch as he can burst towards net and either flick one over the keeper or head one home.

LSB Prediction:

I fully expect this match to be an up and down affair early, as both squads are filled with attacking talent up front and out wide.  But if the game is tied in the later stages, expect Nice to change tactics as a point on the road against PSG will feel like a win.  Conversely, PSG will be pushing for all 90 minutes trying to earn all three points and pull within one point of Nice in the standings.  That’ll leave them exposed at the back for a late counter attack and a Balotelli winner. 2-1 OGC Nice Cote d'Azur