PSG’s summer signings Ousmane Dembélé and Gonçalo Ramos proved they are clicking at last against Lorient

By Eric Devin for Get French Football News

This was the situation Paris Saint-Germain faced on Wednesday night at the Stade du Moustoir: Luis Enrique sent out a heavily rotated team, the visitors having all but clinched the league title, and they were away to a Lorient side with talented individuals, fighting to stay in the top flight. It sounded like a recipe for dropped points and there is a precedent: PSG closed out the end of last season with a draw to Strasbourg and a loss to Clermont at home. The latter result certainly dampened the title celebrations at the Parc des Princes.

However, the leaders barely blinked, even with Achraf Hakimi, Warren Zaïre-Emery, Marquinhos, Bradley Barcola and Vitinha not travelling to Brittany. A brace each from Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé was more than PSG needed to put the hapless Merlus to the sword, 4-1.

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La plus célèbre chaîne de restauration rapide américaine accole son nom à celui de la Ligue 1. McDonald's succède à Uber Eats.

Soucieuse de susciter de l'engouement pour son championnat, la Ligue de football professionnel lance Coach Ligue 1. Un nouveau jeu de fantasy entre Sorare et Mon Petit Gazon.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang cannot stop scoring for new manager Jean-Louis Gasset

By Eric Devin for Get French Football News

Ligue 1 clubs are being rewarded for making bold choices to change managers this season. Lyon under Pierre Sage are not yet mathematically safe but, with six teams and as many points separating them from the relegation playoff spot, they look set to keep their place in the top flight. Rennes under Julien Stéphan will be chagrined to have conceded stoppage-time equalisers in two of their last three matches, but they are still very much in the running for Europe and are still in the Coupe de France. Nantes are still in a bit of bother, but a win against Strasbourg on Sunday would go a long way towards securing survival for Jocelyn Gourvennec’s team.

The recent appointment of Jean-Louis Gasset, seemingly the most desperate of the season in France, is proving the most inspired. Marseille have won all five of their matches under Gasset, scoring 18 goals and conceding just three. Given his ignominious departure from his position as Ivory Coast manager in January, Gasset looked to be nothing more than an experienced pair of hands. But his cool temperament and understanding of French football has made him better suited to the pressure cooker at the Stade Vélodrôme than his predecessor, Gennaro Gattuso.

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The buildup to PSG’s crucial Champions League tie against Real Sociedad has been overshadowed by the latest Mbappé drama

By Luke Entwistle for Get French Football News

Luís Enrique has knocked Kylian Mbappé off the pedestal that Paris Saint-Germain had made for him and the reaction to it has summed up the problematic deification of the France captain.

The Mbappé farewell tour made a familiar stop on Friday night. The Frenchman returned to his formative club Monaco, perhaps for the final time, with a departure from PSG and Ligue 1 looming. Despite his contribution to the French game and his significance in the Principality club’s recent history, Mbappé was not warmly received at the Stade Louis II, with his name booed ahead of kick-off. His relationship with Les Monégasques has soured somewhat; his relationship with PSG has not yet reached its end, but it is heading the same way, as evidenced by a banner unfurled by prominent fan group Block Parisii, which read “KM: Bring on 30/06”, referencing the expiry date of the France captain’s contract.

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• Jeremie Frimpong and Álex Grimaldo score in 2-0 victory
• Domenico Berardi suffers serious injury in Sassuolo defeat

Bayer Leverkusen went 10 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga and continued their unbeaten run with a 2-0 win over struggling neighbours Köln , who went down to 10 men in the first half of a hotly-contested derby on Sunday.

Köln had Jan Thielmann sent off after 14 minutes for stepping on the back of Granit Xhaka’s ankle and Leverkusen took the lead through Jeremie Frimpong in the 37th minute. The home side were still very much in the game until Álex Grimaldo netted his ninth league goal of the season in the 73rd minute.

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From tennis also-ran to brokering world peace via signing Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, the PSG owner has been on a journey

The French football league has reached a point of jeopardy. The new round of TV rights is yet to be sold. The president of Paris Saint-Germain needs a bumper deal to satisfy FFP. The president of beIN Sports, the most likely white knight, is holding out on a late offer. A sympathetic ear in the Qatari government has yet to be found.

Luckily there is some hope of a breakthrough. Mainly because all of the parties mentioned above are, in a rare note of good fortune, the same person. And all of them are called Nasser al-Khelaifi.

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• Freiburg grab late equaliser to dent Bayern’s title hopes
• Pellegrini, Marusic and Guendouzi see red for Lazio

Freiburg’s Lucas Höler scored an 87th-minute equaliser to snatch a 2-2 draw against visitors Bayern Munich , whose Bundesliga title hopes suffered a further blow.

The result left champions Bayern seven points behind leaders Bayer Leverkusen, who can pull further ahead with a win over Cologne on Sunday.

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Death of a fan in early December has led to calls for drastic measures but travel bans have been met with opposition

When Fabio Grosso’s bloodied face was plastered across the front page of L’Équipe on 30 October – “Disgust and shame,” the headline read – there was already a prevailing sense that the spate of violent incidents in French football was plumbing new depths.

Lyon’s Italian coach was injured as the team bus was pelted on its arrival at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille for a high-stakes Olympico showdown. To make matters worse, Nazi salutes and racist chanting were seen and heard from a small minority of the Lyon fans who were already inside the stadium. The match was postponed and played without away fans more than a month later.

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