With a new Ligue 1 season set to kick off this week, Sportsnet takes a look at the players, teams and stories to watch in France’s top division in 2018-19.
PSG STILL THE TEAM TO BEAT
Paris Saint-German won last year’s French league in a stroll, finishing atop the standings with a 13-point lead over AS Monaco, and clinching the title with five games to spare. PSG boasted the best offence (108 goals) and defence (29 goals conceded). They also featured the league’s top scorer Edinson Cavani (28 goals), Brazil’s Neymar (the world’s most expensive player) and Kylian Mbappe (one of the top young players in the game).
PSG’s roster is just as strong as it was last campaign, and they’ve added legendary goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. New manager Thomas Tuchel from Borussia Dortmund replaced Spaniard Unai Emery, who took over at Arsenal. PSG gave a small taste of what we might expect from them under Tuchel this season when they trashed AS Monaco 4-0 in last week’s French Super Cup final.
Monaco, Lyon and Marseille all bolstered their squads in the off-season in hopes of knocking PSG off its perch. But there’s no reason to believe they won’t dominate much like they did in 2017-18. The capital club remains far too strong for the remainder of the field, and teams such as Monaco and Lyon, no matter how ambitious they are, simply don’t have the resources to compete with big-money PSG.
KEEP AN EYE ON
Mbappe had a successful debut season with PSG in 2017-18, scoring a respectable 13 goals and tallying seven assists in Ligue 1.
Much more will be expected of the French teenager, who turns 20 in December, after scoring four goals at this summer’s World Cup and being voted the top young player of the tournament.
Buffon, who has only been Mbappe’s PSG teammate for a short while, has already heaped praise on the French forward.
“It’s obvious [Mbappe] has something more than others. I hope he will remain humble and keep this desire to progress and make sacrifices. If so, he will make a mark in the history of football and write incredible pages of the sport,” Buffon recently told reporters.
VIEIRA COMES HOME
There are a handful of teams that made coaching changes in the off-season, including Nantes who parted ways with former Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri.
The biggest, high-profile coaching swap took place at Nice, where Les Aiglons hired midfielder Patrick Vieira. The former Arsenal great, who helped France win the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000, had been in charge of New York City FC since 2016, and he had worked wonders with the club in MLS.
However, the lure of coaching in his home country proved to be too great. NYCFC was Vieira’s first coaching job, so making the move to Nice, who have hopes of qualifying for Europe after finishing eighth last season, is a massive step for him. Success at Nice, where Mario Balotelli has enjoyed a career renaissance the last two seasons, could lead to future opportunities at one of France’s “big” clubs, such as PSG or AS Monaco.
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NEWCOMER TO WATCH
Buffon’s arrival at PSG has garnered a lot of attention, and the fact the former Juventus goalkeeper is in France is indeed very big news.
But the newcomer who could have the biggest impact in Ligue 1 this season might be Aleksandr Golovin. One of the best players at this summer’s World Cup, the Russian midfielder made the move from CSKA Moscow to AS Monaco, even though Chelsea and Juventus were both reportedly interested in him.
At 22, Golovin is starting to come into his own, as evidenced by his starring role in helping Russia make the World Cup quarterfinals. An exciting attacking player with a nose for goal, Golovin will be looking to make a name for himself after spending the first five years of his career at CSKA.
As his teammates get set to leave China, Aleksandr Golovin enjoys his first workout at our La Turbie training complex. pic.twitter.com/5l8BK4ZpkP
— AS Monaco EN (@AS_Monaco_EN) August 5, 2018
PROMOTED CLUBS
Six-time French champion Stade de Reims are back in Ligue 1 after a two-year absence, having clinching the Ligue 2 title last season with a 15-point lead over second-place Nimes. But they lost a number of key players in the off-season, including Jordan Siebatcheu, the team’s top scorer with 17 goals, who was sold to Rennes.
Nimes returns to Ligue 1 for the first time in 25 years when former France international defender Laurent Blanc played for the southern side. A club with a very modest budget and few resources compared to other topflight clubs, Nimes’ main goal will be to remain in Ligue 1 and avoid going back down to the second division after one season.
Troyes and Metz were relegated to Ligue 2 after finishing in the bottom two of the top division’s standings last season. Toulouse finished in third-last place, but beat Ligue 2 side Ajaccio in the relegation playoffs to remain in France’s topflight.