Title-winners Paris Saint-Germain nonetheless have the Champions League closing to look ahead to later this month however the Ligue 1 season reaches its climax on Saturday with European locations nonetheless up for grabs and a quartet of golf equipment scrapping to keep away from relegation. PSG secured a fourth consecutive home title greater than a month in the past and can gather their trophy following Saturday’s match at house to Auxerre. Luis Enrique’s aspect will then flip their ideas to the French Cup closing in opposition to Reims on May 24 and the Champions League closing in opposition to Inter Milan in Munich per week later.
Behind them, Marseille and Monaco clinched podium locations, and assured entry to subsequent season’s Champions League, with victories final weekend mixed with beneficial outcomes elsewhere.
That leaves one spot in Europe’s elite membership competitors to be determined, with 4 groups — Nice, Lille, Strasbourg and Lyon — nonetheless in competition for a spot within the third qualifying spherical of the Champions League.
Nice, who fell brief within the Champions League play-offs in 2017, are best-placed to take the remaining spot as they arrive into their closing match at house to Brest in fourth place and with one of the best purpose distinction.
A 1-0 win for the Ineos-owned outfit would depart Lille needing to win by six targets, or Strasbourg requiring an eight-goal margin of victory for them to go above Nice.
“I choose to be barely above the others within the desk than barely beneath them,” admitted Nice coach Franck Haise, who took Lens into the Champions League two years in the past.
“To get fourth place, which might not be trivial, to begin with we have to win. We know that.”
A slip-up would give an actual probability to Lille, who completed fourth final season after which got here by means of the qualifying rounds of the Champions League earlier than occurring to achieve the final 16.
Strasbourg additionally retain hope of a primary marketing campaign in Europe’s elite competitors since 1979/80, regardless of the frustration of seeing a 12-game unbeaten run led to a 2-1 loss at Angers final weekend.
Saint-Etienne to outlive?
Lille and Strasbourg are each at house to relegation-threatened opponents, within the form of Reims and Le Havre respectively.
Lyon, in the meantime, know their probabilities of taking fourth are extraordinarily slim. They should win at house to Angers and hope the three groups above all of them lose, with the implications of lacking out on the large prize cash on provide within the Champions League possible very critical for them.
“First of all, we have to deal with ourselves,” stated Lyon coach Paulo Fonseca. “We know it should be very tough for all the opposite groups to lose, however we should exit trying to win our match with out excited about the remainder.”
The crew ending fifth will go into the Europa League with sixth coming into the Conference League, though seventh place will probably be sufficient to qualify for Europe supplied PSG win the French Cup.
At the underside, Saint-Etienne gave themselves a lifeline final weekend of their bid to keep away from a right away return to the second tier.
A win at house to Toulouse will see them seize the lifeline of a two-legged play-off in opposition to both Dunkerque or Metz to remain within the high flight — Â supplied Le Havre don’t win.
Reims and Nantes are additionally not but secure from the hazard of ending within the backside three.Â
Key stats
4 – Four groups go into the final evening of the season with an opportunity of taking France’s fourth and closing qualifying spot for the Champions League
21 – PSG’s Ousmane Dembele has 21 targets and is heading in the right direction to finish the season as Ligue 1’s main scorer, though Marseille’s Mason Greenwood is simply two behind on 19
9- The variety of PSG gamers named within the Ligue 1 crew of the season — Lille goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier and Lyon ahead Rayan Cherki have been the one two from elsewhere to make the choose XI
Fixtures on Saturday (kick-offs 1900 GMT)
Lens v Monaco, Lille v Reims, Lyon v Angers, Marseille v Rennes, Nantes v Montpellier, Nice v Brest, Paris Saint-Germain v Auxerre, Saint-Etienne v Toulouse, Strasbourg v Le Havre
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