Ligue 1: in the midst of turmoil, Galtier's PSG plays a title ball against Lens

Final day. This is how we can see this poster between PSG and Lens this Saturday (9 p.m.), at the Parc des Princes, at the end of the 31st day of the French championship. In fact, it is above all a final for Blood and Gold that we did not expect there. It is not our colleagues from Amazon Prime Video who would say the opposite, they who did not retain this poster among the 10 best of the season at the start of the 2022-23 campaign. Bad pick. Suddenly, it is on Canal Sport that it will be necessary to connect to follow the meeting… “Having 63 points, one more than last year eight days from the end… The objective was to do better . In terms of accounting, the objective is fulfilled, ”savored the Lensois coach Franck Haise after the victory against Strasbourg (2-1). And to add: "We do not prohibit anything".

Seko Fofana and company would indeed be wrong to put up barriers, they who have regained their solidity (Lens is the best defense in Ligue 1) and therefore the path to victory (4 successes in a row, 2 goals conceded out of the five last games). They will perhaps eternally regret this slack between the end of January and the beginning of March (7 points out of 21), they who deploy a quality of play light years away from PSG, unbalanced and limited. In the meantime, they have the opportunity to come back to within three small points of a Paris Saint-Germain who, moreover, is anything but serene at the moment, they who had already beaten the pawn of Christophe Galtier's men on January 1st. , to Bollaert (3-1). The first of the eight defeats of a PSG which has unscrewed since the World Cup in Qatar, seeing in particular its dreams of European coronation fly away, but not only. In the event of a setback at the Parc, the Northerners would, on the other hand, be relegated to nine lengths (the Ligue 1 classification here). "If they win, it will leave no doubt as to their title", recognizes Haise, assuring that "the objective is to stay focused on the match".

Head elsewhere after their exit from the track in C1, the Parisians, they can no longer even delude themselves. They remain on two defeats in their last two matches at the Parc des Princes (Rennes, Lyon). Injuries (Neymar, Kimpembe, Verratti...) do not explain everything. The victory in Nice (1-2) erased nothing. Especially since, since then, there has been the rant of Kylian Mbappé but also and above all the accusations of racist remarks against Christophe Galtier. To say that the boat is rocking is an understatement. “I am deeply shocked by the comments that I am given,” said the person concerned on Friday, during a long-awaited press conference, swearing to have had a hard week and to have “taken refuge in work”. “PSG have a very important game to play (Saturday). All my energy and my concentration are directed towards this objective”, he added, moved.

From there to imagine that this shock comes at the right time for Racing, that PSG can be taken, that the feat is possible, there is only one step… Especially since the essential Kylian Mbappé is suffering, him Also. This is perhaps why the Argentine defender Facundo Medina allowed himself, in the form of a joke, to say that he would send the 2018 world champion in an "ambulance" if necessary... 'order', insists Franck Haise. Medina apologized.

Still, Bondy's crack, hit in the hip before the match in Nice (2-0 victory) last Saturday, has remained silent in the last three matches. An eternity on its scale… It must be said that “KM” will play its 47th match this Saturday in 2022-23, between Paris Saint-Germain and the France team. "It's not Kylian Saint-Germain," he thundered to criticize the content of a club video that he found too centered around his person. Except that it is often the tree that hides the forest, the only danger for the opponents of the capital club. Without him, not much happens... If PSG were to maintain their rank and therefore take a nine-point lead over RCL, it will probably (surely) be with a great Mbappé. And with the help of the best passer in L1, a certain Leo Messi?

In any case, Galtier wants to be as suspicious as he is demanding, well aware that his players will have to do more and better than during their previous meetings. Including that of Nice, where Gianluigi Donnarumma had had a lot of work… “It's a team in good shape, very efficient over the whole season, it's due to the quality of the players but also to that of the work of Franck Haise, who has improved his team season after season, analyzed the Parisian coach on Friday. It's a team that presses you a lot to recover the ball and has the ability to project itself very quickly. We will have to be offensive, much more than in the last matches, but also very focused on the transition phases, which we lacked in the first leg. Pride as a spring? It's an important match even if there will be seven left. I will not go on this ground but on the importance of releasing a great match at this time.

The Red and Blue will in any case not have to count on the support of their Ultras, punished. After the consequent deployment of smoke bombs and other fireworks during PSG-OL (0-1), the Auteuil stand will be partially closed this Saturday, completely on April 22 against Lorient. To see what reception will be reserved for Galtier, who did not discuss the case with his players. "They sent me back the best answer by a total investment in training," he explained, also claiming to have been able to prepare PSG-Lens correctly despite the context. “Yes, I prepared it, we prepared it with the players. Everyone was waiting for this big meeting. We worked well. I found my players very studious, focused, determined during training sessions,” he noted. One thing is certain: in a context like the one in which PSG navigates, there is only one therapy that works: victory. And again, given the current situation, it may not even be enough...