Last Update: January 16, 2023, 22:22 IST
PSG lost to Rennes (Twitter)
Holders PSG could leave the door open for Lens and Marseille to mount a surprise title challenge following the Paris club’s recent defeat
Could there really be a title race in France this season? That’s the question being asked after Paris Saint-Germain’s second defeat of 2023 on Sunday to give hope to their rivals at the halfway stage of the campaign.
The question at the start of the season was whether Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar’s PSG could go an entire campaign undefeated in the league.
They went unbeaten in their first 16 matches but that run came to an end when they came up against their closest challengers Lens on New Year’s Day.
With Messi still taking a post-World Cup break, PSG were blown away in an intimidating atmosphere in the far north of France and lost the game 3-1.
They suffered a second straight defeat on the road on Sunday, going down 1-0 to Champions League chasers Rennes despite fielding Messi, Mbappe and Neymar together for the first time. World cup.
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Lens and Rennes are two of the best clubs in France and two of the strongest teams at home, so losing against these opponents is not a disgrace.
But the manner in which PSG have been beaten is a cause for concern for coach Christophe Gaultier.
He is yet to rediscover the form his team enjoyed before the season was halted for the World Cup.
Now a crunch Champions League last-16 tie against Bayern Munich is on the horizon – the first leg in Paris is on February 14.
“If it is a question of time then it is urgent. We can find thousands of excuses, our players have been scattered here and there for weeks. But the World Cup is over now,” Gaultier said after Sunday’s game.
PSG’s season will ultimately be defined by what happens in Europe, and another exit from the Champions League in the last 16 against Bayern – a year after they were knocked out by Real Madrid at the same stage – much for Galtier. Can be expensive.
But a deep run in Europe could make them more likely to drop points in Ligue 1, like in 2021 when they reached the semi-finals of the Champions League and missed out on Lille’s domestic title.
It was only the third season since the 2011 Qatari takeover in which they did not finish as champions.
lens and marseille chase
At the halfway point of the campaign, PSG are three points clear of Lens and five ahead of Marseille, who still have a game to play away from home.
Lens, whose only league title so far came in 1998, has been outstanding this season under coach Frank Heiss, winning 10 consecutive times at their rocking Stade Boualert, where crowds of 38,000 exceed the city’s population .
Steeped in the working-class tradition of the coal-mining region, Lens is a world away from the bright lights and glamor of Paris.
The club have a modest budget and were forced to sell several key players in the last close season, but they are a shining example to other mid-ranking French sides of what can be achieved.
Marseille meanwhile overcame a painful exit from the Champions League in early November and have won all six league games they have played since then.
Under Croatian coach Igor Tudor, they played with a level of intensity and urgency in their weekend win over Lorient that was in stark contrast to PSG.
They already have more points than when Marcelo Bielsa’s thrilling Marseille side topped the table halfway through the 2014/15 season before eventually collapsing.
Tudor said, “We have 42 points but we are only in third place.”
“It means the other two teams are doing a great job. We are at the halfway point of the marathon and we will see who can keep it up.”
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)