This is the controversy of the moment in French football. Saturday April 11, PSG must travel to Lens for this decisive duel for the Ligue 1 title. However, this confrontation falls between the Parisians’ two Champions League quarter-final matches against Liverpool, scheduled for April 8 and 14. The capital club asked the LFP to postpone this summit clash, in order to be able to rest between the two matches against the Reds, as was the case for the PSG-Nantes match which fell between the two matches against Chelsea.
In a press release published Monday, RC Lens opposed this request: “it appears to us in fact that a worrying feeling is tending to take hold: that of a French championship progressively relegated to the rank of adjustment variable according to the European imperatives of certain people. A unique concept of sporting fairness, the equivalent of which is difficult to find in other major continental competitions. Changing the date of this meeting today would mean, for the Racing Club de Lens, being deprived of competition for 15 days and then playing a series of matches every three days – a rhythm which corresponds neither to that defined at the start of the championship, nor to the means of a club which could absorb this type of new constraints without consequence. It would therefore be understood that the tenth budget of the championship should adapt to the demands of the most powerful, in the name of interests which, clearly, now go beyond the domestic framework, which has already been reduced in recent seasons (L1 to 18 clubs, cessation of the League Cup) “.
The Lensois attack PSG
However, the LFP will have to make a decision and the Sang-et-Or will not have a say in the event that the League decides in favor of PSG. The decision is expected Thursday, during the LFP board of directors. And the Red Rigers 1994, a group of Lens supporters, have just published a very strong press release. “Depending on whether you are powerful or miserable… Yesterday, we learned information that had been circulating for a few days: the leaders of PSG wish to postpone the RC Lens – Paris SG match in order to best prepare for the quarter-final second leg of the Champions League. The leaders of Racing put forward all the necessary arguments yesterday so that this postponement would not be effective: calendar already fixed, sporting fairness, respect for the competition and the clubs that make it up, inconsistency of the calendar which would only cause our club to play one match between March 21 and April 16, and then have periods of matches every three days.we can first read.
Like many other supporters of Ligue 1 clubs, the Lensois have noticed that this decision to postpone matches does not happen anywhere else, and they do not hesitate to highlight it. “PSG says it wants to be a great player in Europe. In all of the major European championships, this request is not made by any of the clubs, many of which nevertheless have a significant track record. To win without danger, we triumph without glory… Obviously, we are opposed to the postponement of this match: encouraging PSG’s European adventure means making it more difficult for Lens to play for the title, since to date our club is only one point behind the leader. Lens does not have the sufficient workforce to maintain a high level of competition with the proposed arrangement of the calendar, and the course in the Coupe de France already imposes an additional load of matches. This top-of-the-table match must be in the spotlight, particularly through its television programming. A match during the week will not allow the Ligue 1 product to be promoted on television”.
“In this period when Qatar, owner of PSG and beIN Sports, is scuttling the TV rights to the World Cup, while all the other clubs making up the Ligue 1 college had decided in favor of broadcasting on Ligue 1+, and where beIN Sports is killing Ligue 2, we are opposed to once again the power being exercised and imposed by an off-ground club boss, and that the decision-making body of the calendar, the LFP, is only a a narrow-minded and submissive performer, further devaluing the French championship. Even if it means arranging a calendar to encourage a European competition, PSG can contact UEFA and request a postponement of the date. We, Racing supporters, therefore ask the leaders of French football to respect the championship and its clubs, and not just its pilot club. NO TO POSTPONEMENT »concludes the press release. The message is therefore more than clear.
