It has been a few years since the title of French champion had been so undecided. Each season, Ligue 1 seems inevitably promised to PSG, which has resources far superior to the competition. But there are sometimes exceptions, in one exercise, a team that manages to stand up to Paris until the end. If some time ago, this team was called LOSC, this year it seems to be RC Lens. Pierre Sage’s team has a string of good results and also takes advantage of the few points dropped by PSG to believe in the title and are in first place in the ranking after 22 days (with 1 point ahead of PSG). RC Lens is achieving the perfect course for the moment. And the Sang et Or also benefit from the fact that after an XXL last season, PSG seems quite worn out with numerous injuries and an inability to really run with the Champions League on top of that. Present at a press conference this Friday before the match against FC Metz (last in Ligue 1), which, on paper, seems very unbalanced, Luis Enrique was keen to be wary, explaining that in addition, his team could not, or no longer, afford to take a breather.
“We will manage the Metz match as what it is, an important match to put pressure on Lens. Win the 3 points. I don’t remember any matches against one without any problems. This type of match is difficult», he said before talking about this competition for the championship title, something rare in recent years. “What I think has changed in my mentality compared to recent years on management in Ligue 1 is the number of injuries we have had this year. I can’t change the players too much because we had an average of three injuries per match. I can’t get the rotation to spin. But it is a key condition for this year so we must take advantage of that to try to manage better. But it’s certain that it gives different conditions this season.”
The Parisians are pumped up
For him, compared to last season, PSG suffers much more from fatigue and the impossibility of running. Which also means that PSG is losing ground in Ligue 1. “It’s difficult to make comparisons between teams and even between the same team over the same season. This season, we played matches practically without any training. I didn’t create any problems and I didn’t find excuses despite the injuries and the fatigue. This is the condition as a PSG coach. But it’s special to say that we can’t operate with 3 injuries per match. We showed resilience this year, in the way we faced problems. It’s hard to have that. (…) I always think of the same thing, managing it in the best possible way. Vitinha played a lot. But every time he plays, he plays very well. We continue because we need this type of performance. I’m thinking of giving them a rest but we have to reach Metz. And Metz, every time we played against them, we had problems. And tomorrow there will be. I would like to give them some rest but it will be difficult.”
And when asked whether Lens has an advantage in the title race with an outsider status and additional motivation compared to PSG who are used to winning everything, the former Spain coach has a very different opinion. “If Lens has an advantage? I don’t know, I’m not sure. We need to know what will happen in the coming weeks. They showed that they are a real team, they won a lot of matches, it’s incredible. They deserve to be there, it’s motivating for us. We spoke with the players, three or four games ago, about the difficulty of winning Ligue 1, because we are more or less on the same trajectory as the last two seasons with improvements. It’s a motivation for us, we will have to win to win this L1.” RC Lens has been warned, they will have to have a perfect run to hope to win in Ligue 1. Because PSG is determined to defend its title until the end.
