With just three rounds of fixtures left in the 2015/16 Ligue 1 season, there is a tense battle going on to decide who will join champions Paris Saint-Germain as France’s representatives in Europe’s premier club competition next season.
As many as four teams are in the hunt for the two remaining spots- Olympique Lyon and AS Monaco are the usual suspects, but Nice and St.Etienne are in with a good shout too.
France has three Champions League spots available- the top two automatically go through to the group stage, while the third team has to go through the playoffs.
Lyon and Monaco are on the same number of points (59), but OL lead the principality club on goal difference. Nice and St.Etienne are both two points behind (57)
Lyon
Lyon have been in glorious form since moving to their new stadium, but face three tricky fixtures. Two of their games are against Gazelec Ajaccio and Reims, who are both fighting against the drop, and relegation threatened clubs always tend to lift their game towards the end of the season. The other is against Monaco.
Monaco
ASM’s draw against Rennes was a body blow to their CL aspirations. They’ve won only two of their last eight in all competitions and have an inferior goal difference (9) compared to Lyon (21). Monaco will face Guingamp and Montpellier on either side of that crunch fixture against Lyon on 7 May.
Monaco will be desperate to avoid finishing third. They did so in the 14/15 season, and faltered in the CL playoff round against Valencia. After dropping down to the Europa League, they exited that competition early as well, failing to get out of a group that also consisted of Tottenham and Anderlecht.
OGC Nice & St.Etienne
Nice are the feel-good story of Ligue 1 this season, and Hatem Ben Arfa has been in sublime form for them. Should OGCN manage CL football, they’ll be able to keep Ben Arfa next season and continue to grow.
Like the Lyon-Monaco fixture on the 7th, there is a crunch clash between Nice and St. Etienne on the same date. ASSE have won five in a row and also have games against Toulouse and 6th place Lille. Should ASSE lose to Nice, the Lille game on the final day of the season becomes very interesting for both sides. Nice, on the other hand will face Nantes and Guingamp, two middle table teams with nothing really to play for at this stage of the season.
With PSG winning the League Cup, France have been given an extra spot in the Europa League next season, but that team (5th in Ligue 1) will have to go through the playoffs.
French sides were poor in Europe this season with the exception of PSG. Lyon finished bottom of their Champions League group, and all French teams exited the Europa League before the Round of 16. It therefore comes as no surprise that the Parisians are still considered France’s best hope for the CL- they are at 14/1 to win the Champions League next season.
Laurent Blanc has been given another season to achieve continental success by the club’s Qatari openers. He’ll need to add to squad depth, especially in midfield, and upfront, as they seek to add the CL to their burgeoning trophy cabinet. Some of his tactics this season were weird- signing Stambouli but not using him, an over reliance on Verratti and a sudden switch to 3-5-2 ahead of the quarterfinal against City. The talismanic figure of Zlatan Ibrahimovic will not be present at Parc des Princes next season, and Blanc will have to move swiftly and decisively in the transfer market if he is to stay in the hot seat beyond 2017.