How PSG Can Use Their Early Ligue 1 Title Win to Make Champions League Progress
Paris Saint-Germain confirmed their fourth consecutive Ligue 1 title with a merciless 9-0 thrashing of ESTAC Troyes at Stade de l'Aube last Sunday.
Four goals for the insatiable Zlatan Ibrahimovic, two from Edinson Cavani, one each for Javier Pastore and Adrien Rabiot, and a Matthieu Saunier own goal secured a sixth overall crown in Le Championnat for the men from the capital.
Speaking with journalists after the match, PSG coach Laurent Blanc was delighted with the professionalism his players displayed in disposing of their hosts to wrap up the title in style:
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"We really got the job done, especially in the second half. There are lots of people who will have something to say about what we have achieved this season.
My players have been very professional, right from the first league match, which has yielded countless points and wins. And the title after 30 matches. Now we'll be able to comfortably rotate the squad and rest some players.
The toughest thing will be to play another month's worth of competition, knowing that our season isn't over yet. But it leaves us the luxury of being able to rest certain players for league matches. We won't be neglecting our league duties though; we'll be taking them as seriously as possible.
We'll try to make it to the finals of both domestic cups and we'll do all we can to go as far as possible in the Champions League. We'll just have to make the best of whatever tie we're handed in the draw.
"
PSG being crowned French champions with eight matches left to play is a new French and European record. The 9-0 hammering of Troyes is also a domestic record for an away win, while it is now the joint-largest victory away from home in European history.
Before Les Parisiens confirmed their latest Hexagoal trophy, German giants Bayern Munich were the previous record holders for the fastest domestic title.
The Bundesliga juggernauts secured the 2013-14 title on March 25—after 27 games—but Ligue 1 has two more teams than its German equivalent, so PSG claim the record by virtue of having eight games to spare over Bayern's seven that campaign.
Pep Guardiola's men should serve as a cautionary tale for the French giants, though. After wrapping up the title in advance that term, they hoped to go all the way in the UEFA Champions League.
However, eventual winners Real Madrid had other ideas, and Los Blancos swept the Germans aside 5-0 on aggregate in the semi-finals. That defeat proves that getting domestic duties out of the way ahead of time is not a guarantee of continental success.
With the likes of Barcelona, Real, Atletico and Bayern themselves still in this season's Champions League—at least until this midweek's second legs have been played—the same thing that happened to Guardiola’s men back in 2013-14 could happen to PSG this campaign.
What Blanc must do now is manage his team with great intelligence. With the French capital outfit's unbeaten run in Ligue 1 now over, they have nothing left to play for in the league.
However, they do have one or two relatively challenging fixtures left in Le Championnat against the likes of AS Monaco, OGC Nice, Stade Rennais and FC Nantes.
PSG have already booked a date in the Coupe de la Ligue final against Lille OSC, and they also have the Coupe de France semi-final away at FC Lorient to look forward to. Both of those matches should now become priorities for the defending champions of both competitions.
Blanc needs to prioritise the cup games ahead of most league ones, but he has to make sure he fields strong starting XIs in the penultimate fixtures before each Champions League quarter-final leg and any potential continental games after that.
If Le President can drum it into his players that they must take fixtures against the likes of Monaco, Nice, Rennes and Nantes seriously, then his men should not lose all of the competitive edge they have displayed recently.
The thrashing of an abysmal Troyes side last weekend illustrated a merciless PSG. Now that they can focus almost exclusively on the Champions League, Blanc must rotate his players so that they are in optimum condition when their continental fixtures—whomever those might be against—roll around.
However, there is no guarantee for the French giants that their early Ligue 1 success will take them further than the European quarter-finals this time around.
Blanc and his players have done what they can, and the likely return of Marco Verratti from injury in time for the Champions League, Coupe de la Ligue and Coupe de France matches will help, but their continental aspirations depend on the draw for the last eight.
That said, with Le Championnat already out of the way and an Ibrahimovic-inspired PSG seemingly primed for this end-of-season run-in, Les Parisiens have given themselves their best chance yet of breaking into European’s final four or better.
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