Top 5 Moments from PSG's 2014/15 Season

A 1-0 win over Ligue 2 side AJ Auxerre at Stade de France on Saturday brought an end to the football season in France, and with it, Paris Saint-Germain became the first team in the country's history to complete a domestic clean sweep.

Laurent Blanc’s men made a slow start to the campaign but finished as Ligue 1, Coupe de la Ligue and Coupe de France winners. Winning the Trophee des Champions back in pre-season means that absolutely every possible piece of domestic silverware currently resides at Parc des Princes.

It was an eventful term for Les Parisiens, but it finished in success, with a third consecutive UEFA Champions League quarter-final exit the only conceivable blemish in the eyes of the capital club’s ambitious Qatari owners.

The following were the top five moments of PSG’s 2014/15 season.

5. PSG Defend Coupe de la Ligue

Michel Euler/Associated Press

Back at the start of April, PSG were still fighting for glory on four fronts—both domestic and European.

With their Champions League quarter-final first leg against Barcelona rapidly approaching and having beaten bitter rivals Olympique de Marseille in Ligue 1 and AS Saint-Etienne in the semi-finals of the Coupe de France in the space of three days, Laurent Blanc’s men took on SC Bastia in the Coupe de la Ligue final.

Defending their crown from the previous year, PSG capitalised on Sebastien Squillaci’s harsh 19th-minute red card to run out comfortable 4-0 winners thanks to Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Edinson Cavani braces.

The victory was PSG’s fifth Coupe de la Ligue title, cementing their position as the competition’s most decorated side. It also formed the first part of what would eventually be an unprecedented domestic clean sweep.

4. PSG Fight Back to Beat Marseille

Claude Paris/Associated Press

Less than one week before that win over Bastia, PSG returned from the March international break and faced fierce rivals Olympique de Marseille at Stade Velodrome.

Losing 2-1 at half-time after a superb opening 45 minutes from Marcelo Bielsa’s men, the French capital outfit ultimately ran out 3-2 winners thanks to two goals in two minutes at the start of the second half. 

A win over Marseille is always special for PSG fans, but this one—a seventh consecutive triumph over their loathed rivals—will be remembered more fondly than most.

Following a 3-1 home win over FC Lorient prior to the international break, it was in Marseille that a strong run of form was started. That purple patch would take Les Parisiens through to the end of the campaign, as seven more victories followed to set a new club Ligue 1 record of nine straight wins in Le Championnat.

PSG’s title-clinching run of form arguably started that night at Stade Velodrome.

3. PSG Thump Guingamp to Edge Closer to Ligue 1 Title

Thibault Camus/Associated Press

During that rich vein of form toward the end of the season, PSG scored 31 goals in Ligue 1 alone and hit six on two separate occasions. The second of those two six-goal wins came against EA Guingamp in the capital club’s penultimate home game of the season.

Edinson Cavani scored his first hat-trick for PSG, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic helped himself to a brace and Maxwell also got in on the act. The win put Laurent Blanc’s men six points clear with two games left to play.

The Guingamp win was not the game that sealed the title for PSG, though; they had to wait one more week for that with a 2-1 win away at Montpellier HSC. However, Olympique Lyonnais’ 3-0 defeat at Stade Malherbe Caen the day after Les Parisiens demolished Jocelyn Gourvennec’s side was the result that effectively clinched the league crown for the French capital outfit.

PSG’s thumping of Guingamp applied enough pressure on Lyon to make sure Hubert Fournier’s vibrant young team cracked at the crucial moment. It was the second time in three homes games Blanc’s boys turned on the style and showed Ligue 1 what they are capable of when fully focused on domestic matters.

2. PSG Oust Chelsea in Europe

Matt Dunham/Associated Press

Although an understrength PSG were eventually blown away by Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-finals, Les Parisiens' reaching the last eight was an impressive achievement.

Having drawn 1-1 in Paris in the last-16 first leg against Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea, the Ligue 1 giants travelled to Stamford Bridge staring elimination in London in the face for the second consecutive season. After 31 minutes, a tough task was made even tougher when Zlatan Ibrahimovic was shown a harsh straight red card.

Gary Cahill scored for the hosts after 81 minutes, and many thought that was that despite PSG’s valiant efforts after going down to 10 men. Incredibly, though, ex-Chelsea man David Luiz equalised five minutes later with a stunning header to send the encounter to extra time.

The Blues took the lead once again six minutes into the additional 30 thanks to an Eden Hazard penalty, but the French outfit were not to be denied. In heroic circumstances, captain Thiago Silva atoned for conceding the earlier penalty with a superb header six minutes before time.

The Brazilian’s goal secured a 2-2 draw and PSG, eliminated on away goals in consecutive seasons, found themselves in the quarter-finals courtesy of the same rule with a 3-3 aggregate draw.

The club’s Qatari owners saw the result as progress on the continental stage, and the feat also proved that PSG possess the quality to eliminate the best in the Champions League.

1. Coupe de France Final Win vs. Auxerre

Jacques Brinon/Associated Press

Only one moment can possibly top PSG's eliminating Chelsea in the Champions League, and that is Saturday’s Coupe de France final win over AJ Auxerre.

The narrow 1-0 victory against l’AJA does not beat the Chelsea game because of the quality of the match or the result but more because of what winning the trophy meant for Les Parisiens’ season.

Securing the Coupe de France completed a domestic clean sweep of silverware, the first time such a feat has ever been achieved in French football history.

Regardless of what happens from this moment on, PSG will always be remembered as the first French team to ever win all three major domestic trophies in the same season.

The Coupe de France success also means that the capital club are now just one title away from equalling Marseille’s record of 10 French Cups. PSG have now also won every single domestic trophy at least once under their Qatari owners.