Paris Saint-Germain hope their latest Ligue 1 title, secured on Sunday with three games remaining, is just the first leg of a historic treble, with the Champions League semi-final coming up and the Coupe de France final to come . good.
It is PSG’s 12th French title, at least two more than any other team, and also its tenth in 12 seasons, which shows how the country’s football scene has transformed since Qatar’s takeover of the club in 2011.
The extent of PSG’s financial advantage over the rest of French football is overwhelming and means that finishing each season as champions is effectively a minimum requirement.
When analysts at Deloitte published their list of the world’s most profitable football clubs last year, PSG came in third place, with revenues of just over 800 million euros ($855 million). The only other French team in the top 20 was Marseille, with €258 million.
UEFA’s report on European Club Finance, published in February, revealed that PSG has the second largest wage bill on the continent, behind only Barcelona, at more than €600 million.
Those wage costs will have changed significantly this season following the departures of Lionel Messi and Neymar, but a recent study by sports daily L’Equipe stated that the 10 highest-paid players in Ligue 1 at the moment all play in Paris.
In this context, it is almost impossible for anyone to compete with Luis Enrique’s team domestically, but the Spanish coach still deserves credit.
“Given our history and our squad, we are the favourites, although not everyone will be able to do so, especially with so many games still to be played,” he said last week.
“But I’ve said from day one that we are the favourites, that we have the best squad and the biggest budget. It’s almost an obligation.”
– Transition of Messi and Neymar –
He took over a team that was going through a period of transition in the post-Messi and Neymar era.
PSG failed to convince when they won the league last season, losing seven games and beating Lens by just one point.
This campaign, to use a French expression, has not always been like a long, peaceful river.
Luis Enrique had to incorporate a series of new signings and had to deal with the embarrassing situation surrounding Kylian Mbappe’s future.
Mbappe was left out at the start of the campaign, with the club pressuring him to sign a new contract or agree to be sold rather than simply expiring the final year of his contract.
This partly explains why PSG have won just three of their first seven Ligue 1 games.
However, the team has since regained its rhythm and its only league defeat so far was a 3-2 home loss to Nice in September.
Ousmane Dembele has been excellent since arriving from Barcelona, playing mainly on the right wing, and Bradley Barcola has played on the other side.
Teenager Warren Zaire-Emery has been a constant presence in midfield and has been called up to the French national team, while Portuguese playmaker Vitinha is arguably PSG’s best player.
But there is also Mbappé, who has 43 goals in all competitions, and who despite having been little used in the league in the last two months, has since informed the club of his decision to leave for free at the end of the season.
Mbappé completed 90 minutes just twice in PSG’s last 11 league games.
Luis Enrique justified it by saying that he needs to prepare for a future without his star and try alternatives. But in the meantime, PSG must make the most of the French captain’s presence in their ranks.
The fact that they are now a better, more balanced team, without having to accommodate Messi and Neymar, is no surprise.
Although they fluctuated in the group stage of the Champions League, they qualified for the knockout stages and picked up four points against Borussia Dortmund along the way. They should now be favorites to beat the Germans in the next semi-final.
That would allow them to end the Mbappe era with a French Cup final against Lyon on May 25 and the Champions League final a week later, with the prospect of a raft of trophies in sight.
“Of course we are talking about it. It is a source of motivation for us,” said Luis Enrique.
“It will be a long and winding road to get there. We will have to be fully focused until the end of the season.”
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