Tag: Ligue 1

Categories
football Slides Sports News

PSG APPOINTS POCHETINNO AS TUCHEL’S REPLACEMENT.

Paris Saint-Germain have announced the appointment of Mauricio Pochettino as their new manager on a contract which runs until 2022.

Pochettino replaces Thomas Tuchel, who was sacked on Christmas Eve following a 4-0 win against Strasbourg in Ligue 1.

Former Tottenham Hotspur boss Pochettino takes over with PSG third in Ligue 1, a point behind Lyon and Lille.

I am really happy & honoured,” Pochettino wrote on Twitter. “I would like to thank the club’s management for their trust.

“As you know, this club has always held a special place in my heart. I have wonderful memories. I return to the club today with a lot of ambition & humility.”

PSG chairman and CEO Nasser Al-Khelaifi added: “We are very pleased to welcome Mauricio Pochettino as first team coach. I am proud to see our former captain returning to Paris Saint-Germain, as the club has always remained his home.

“The return of Mauricio fits perfectly with our ambitions and it will be another exciting chapter for the club and one I am positive the fans will enjoy. With the appointment of Mauricio Pochettino, Paris Saint-Germain is committed to continue to build and move the club forward over the coming years.”

Sources told ESPN that he had been in negotiations with the French champions for a fortnight before his appointment.

The Argentine spent two years of his playing career at PSG, where he won the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2001.

With Ligue 1 on winter break, Pochettino’s first game will come against Saint-Etienne on Jan. 6 before the Champions League round of 16 double-header against Barcelona.

Categories
football Slides Sports News

PSG SACK THOMAS TUCHEL ON CHRISTMAS EVE.

Thomas Tuchel has been sacked by Paris Saint-Germain, according to Sky Germany.

Tuchel joined the club at the beginning of the 2018-19 season, winning back-to-back league titles as well as the Coupe de France and Coupe de la Ligue in 2020.

PSG are currently third in Ligue 1, a point behind leaders Lyon, and have lost four of their 17 games in the league this season. Tuchel guided the club to their first Champions League final last season.

The 47-year-old was contracted until the end of the current campaign, having signed an extension last May.

Categories
football Slides Sports News Uncategorized

LIGUE 1 ROUND UP: MBAPPE’S 100TH GOAL HELP CLUB BEAT MONTPELLIER, RENNES LOSE AGAIN.

Striker Kylian Mbappe came off the bench to score his 100th goal for Paris Saint-Germain as the French league leader secured a hard-fought 3-1 win at Montpellier on Saturday.

Mbappe’s century of PSG goals — in 137 games — was completed when the 21-year-old turned in a cross from Layvin Kurzawa from close range in the 90th minute.

Up until then, it was uncertain for PSG after English striker Stephy Mavididi equalized for Montpellier in the 40th and the home side pushed strongly for a winner after the break.

PSG striker Moise Kean broke away and netted with a fine finish in the 76th to put the visitors ahead. Mbappe then stroked the ball home from Kurzawa’s quick pass to embellish a win which moves PSG four points ahead of second-place Marseille, and five ahead of third-place Lille.

Marseille have played two games fewer than PSG, while Lille can remain two points behind PSG with a home win against Monaco on Sunday.

PSG coach Thomas Tuchel rested Neymar and Marco Verratti ahead of their Champions League game against Istanbul Basaksehir on Tuesday. But Montpellier’s best striker Andy Delort was also missing, having tested positive for the coronavirus .

It deprived Montpellier of a player who has six goals, assisted on three and has formed a strong partnership with Gaetan Laborde. It also spared a shaky PSG defense, which has conceded five goals in two games, from coping against one of the league’s most physical and awkward strikers.

Tuchel’s gamble to rest his best forwards worked.

In Saturday’s other game, Rennes lost 2-0 at home to Lens, which climbed to seventh place while Rennes dropped to eighth and have won just one game in their last 13 overall.

Lens took the lead in the 27th minute through 18-year-old forward Arnaud Kalimuendo, who joined from PSG in the recent transfer window and netted his third goal of the season.

He went close early in the second half when his shot was saved by the foot of goalkeeper Romain Salin. Striker Ignatius Ganago returned from injury and grabbed the second goal late on.

In the pick of Sunday’s matches, Lille’s lunchtime kickoff frustrated coach Christophe Galtier considering his side played in the Europa League on Thursday night.

Former champion Lyon look to make it 10 games unbeaten when they visits Metz.

Categories
football Sports News

PSG 3-0 RENNES: DI MARIA’S BRACE HELP PSG REMAIN TOP OF THE TABLE.

Angel Di Maria scored twice as Paris Saint-Germain made short work of Rennes despite a raft of absences in a 3-0 win on Saturday that enables the champions to hold onto their lead at the top of Ligue 1.

Di Maria struck in each half, with Moise Kean scoring the other, to move PSG up to 24 points, five ahead of second-placed Lille who take on Brest in Sunday’s early fixture.

Rennes stay third on 18 points — but can be overtaken by Nice should they beat Monaco on Sunday — while Montpellier are a further point back in sixth after their 2-0 win at Bordeaux.

PSG’s win was their eighth in a row in the French top flight and came as under-fire coach Thomas Tuchel battles with an injury crisis that has left him without the likes of Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Marco Verratti.

Marquinhos was moved back into the defence following injury to centre-back Presnel Kimpembe, while Pablo Sarabia failed to overcome a muscle strain.

However new arrival Kean put the hosts ahead after 10 minutes with his third Ligue 1 goal of the season when he collected Di Maria’s pass and lashed a low shot past Alfred Gomis.

Di Maria then added the second 10 minutes later when fellow Argentine Leandro Paredes picked him out with a fine through ball and he dinked his finish over Gomis.

PSG suffered what looked to be more injury strife when Thilo Kehrer left the field 10 minutes before the end of the first half, before Kean then began limping on the hour mark before being substituted shortly afterwards.

The result was never really in doubt however, and Di Maria made absolutely sure of the points in the 73rd minute when his low drive squirmed past the unfortunate Gomis.

A thumping win over Rennes is unlikely to improve Tuchel’s precarious position at PSG though as last season’s Champions League finalists struggle in this year’s edition.

The 47-year-old German, whose contract is up at the end of this season, is in a sticky position after PSG lost 2-1 at RB Leipzig on Wednesday to leave them with two defeats out of three in the competition’s group stage.

It has become an open secret that Tuchel does not get on with Leonardo, PSG’s powerful sporting director, who did not hire the German and wants to bring in his own man.

Categories
football Slides Sports News

Ligue 1 opening day pushed back amid fears of corona virus

The opening match of the 2020-21 French top-flight season has been postponed after four positive coronavirus tests at Marseille.

Marseille were due to host Saint-Etienne on Friday in the first of eight weekend fixtures in Ligue 1.

The 2019-20 campaign was curtailed in April because of the Covid-19 pandemic, with Paris St-Germain, 12 points clear at the top, awarded the title.

Marseille v Saint-Etienne will now be played on either 16 or 17 September.

The French league told clubs last week its protocol for dealing with coronavirus meant more than three positive cases at a club was likely to lead to a postponement.

Marseille’s former Aston Villa defender Jordan Amavi tested positive last week, with another three players following in the latest round.

They cancelled a friendly against German side Stuttgart in the wake of Amavi’s positive test.

Marseille, who are managed by former Chelsea and Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas, finished runners-up to PSG in last season’s shortened campaign.

On Friday, France was added to a list of countries from which those arriving in the UK are required to quarantine for two weeks.

France’s prime minister, Jean Castex, acknowledged infection numbers were going “the wrong way” in the country.

Categories
football Sports News

PSG BEAT SECOND DIVISION SIDE 9-0 AS LIGUE 1 MAKE HISTORY OF WELCOMING POST COVID-19 SPECTATORS

Paris Saint-Germain routed second division Le Havre 9-0 in a friendly on Sunday but the game was more remarkable for drawing the biggest crowd for a match in one of Europe’s ‘Big Five’ football nations since early March.

The French government relaxed the health protocols before the weekend to allow for a total attendance of 5,000, including players, journalists and staff, at games and while the match at Le Havre was not the first to be played, the others involved only lower-division clubs.

For the game at Le Havre, the tickets, priced between 30 euros ($34) and 60 euros, sold out in six minutes.

“It is a victory for French football, sport in general,” said outgoing Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu who was at the match.

“I am delighted that football in France can resume in a popular way, with more people in the stadiums. It is the only country in western Europe to be able to do this.”

Unlike Germany, England, Italy and Spain, France abandoned its league season in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, but when the other four countries resumed their leagues, they did so behind closed doors.

Although social distancing rules were in place, fans took a few liberties once they were in the 25,000-capacity Stade Ocean on Sunday.

“It’s a bit like a return to normal life, even if there are some drastic conditions,” said Johan Vattier, president of Les Barbarians Havre, the club’s biggest supporters group.

“We don’t give a damn about PSG, this match is first and foremost a way to get back together with our mates!”

“It’s not easy for a group like ours to enforce the rules because we’re used to cramming together, but we’re going to try to respect them as much as possible,” he added.

“We want to start next season with fans in the ground.”

Alan, 20, a student in Le Havre, who is a PSG fan, said it had been a dream to finally see his team in the flesh and he had not thought about the health risk.

“When I saw that it was Paris, I didn’t even think about it,” he said. “Closed-door games on TV are boring.”

On the field, Neymar and Mauro Icardi each scored twice and Kylian Mbappe once before PSG made 10 changes leading 5-0 at half time.

Pablo Sarabia, with two, Idrissa Gueye and Arnaud Kalimuendo scored in the first 15 minutes of the second half to complete the rout as PSG started to warm up for a busy few weeks in late July and early August.

“We are back! A friendly that feels like a final with a knot in my stomach,” Neymar wrote on Instagram before kick-off.

PSG are due to play Saint-Etienne in the French Cup final on July 24 and Lyon in the French League Cup Ffinal on July 31 before resuming their Champions League campaign away to Atalanta on August 12.

Both French finals will be at the 80,000-seat Stade de France in Paris.

Maracineanu said the attendance limit would be reviewed on July 18 and would consider adjusting the limit so it was proportional with the size of the stadium.

Categories
football Slides Sports News

OGC NICE AGREE £2M FOR EVERTON MIDFIELDER

According to her official media outlet, Ligue 1 side OGC Nice have agreed a £1.8 million plus bonuses fee with Everton for the signature of midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin ahead of the summer transfer window.

The Frenchman is set to undergo a medical next week and finally leave Goodison Park after struggling to impress in recent campaigns

Schneiderlin joined Everton from Manchester United in January 2017 for an initial £20 million rising to £24 million on a four-and-a-half-year contract, reuniting with ex-Toffees boss Ronald Koeman, whom he played for at Southampton.

The 30-year-old has played 73 Premier League games for Everton, appearing in 13 others across all competitions and scoring once.

While he struggled on Merseyside, Schneiderlin was a top player for Southampton, playing 261 games for them across the League One, Championship and Premier League, emerging as their Player of the Season in 2012-13 – their first season back in the top-flight.

Injuries and lack of form have prevented the France international from living up to expectations at Everton, and he will hope to recover his form back home with Nice.

The Toffees are taking a huge loss if the reports are true, but selling him for a fee is better than losing him for free next season, with only a year left on his current contract.