France’s Le Championnat gets underway on Friday night with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) strong favourites to lift the title after their summer spending free. They look set to make a real splash in the European game but is ‘buying the title’ a good thing for football? (PSG 4/11 Ligue 1 Outright).
Despite being a relativity well-known club throughout Europe, PSG have only won the French top-flight title on two occasions and the last time they lifted the trophy was back in 1994. But that looks set to change as the Parisians have become the latests club to benefit from huge foreign investment.
The money pumped into the club by the Qatar Investment Authority means that they will now be on a different level financially to the rest of the Ligue 1 clubs and, while money does not always guarantee success, it would be a surprise if they were not crowned champions of France in May 2013.
Players of the calibre of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva had already arrived from AC Milan before news broke that the capital outfit had outbid Manchester United to land Brazil international midfielder Lucas Moura for 45m euros. In terms of prestige and history, PSG cannot hold a candle to the Red Devils and it proves the point that, in football, money always talks.
History has shown that clubs can effectively spend their way to success and Blackburn Rovers proved the theory when lifting the Premier League trophy back in 1995 on the back of Jack Walker’s millions. The inevitable fall from grace occurred when the plug was pulled on the cash-flow and they are now a ‘yo-yo club’ with another spell in the second tier of English football about to begin.
The latest example in England is obviously Manchester City who, prior to the recent Middle East investment, would not have entertained the thought of beating United to the title. But they are able to attract the top stars to the Etihad Stadium the way that Roman Abramovich’s money has done at Chelsea, and there seems no reason to suggest that the recent trend will end any time soon.
The finances involved do annoy many people looking in from the outside and the way in which the Olympic athletics have performed so well for a fraction of the rewards that a top footballer receives has added fuel to the argument that they are grossly overpaid.
But is is not going to stop and PSG will look to join the top echelons of the European game through their ability in the transfer market, with ex-Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti the man pulling the strings.
Montpellier took the Ligue 1 title last season, with PSG finishing second and they kick off their defence of the title on Friday night against Toulouse (Montpelier 8/11, Toulouse 9/2, draw 12/5 Match Prices). The Paris club begin with the visit of Lorient on Saturday and are massive favourites to take all three points from the side who finished just one point and one place above the drop zone last term.
It is true that the increased expectation will heap pressure on the Paris players but, operating in a relatively weak league, they should be able to sweep all before them. The downside for the French league is that it could become, like Scotland has now after Rangers’ demotion, a one-horse race for the title, with the likes of Montpellier, Lyon, Lille and Bordeaux struggling to hang on to their coat-tails.
The PSG fans will not care two hoots about the financial implications as they will just want to see their heroes lift trophy after trophy at home and in Europe but it may well take them a few seasons to adapt to life in the Champions League, as there are a number of talented teams waiting to bring them down to earth.
If the cash keeps rolling in for Ancelotti and director of football Leonardo to spend then all should be well at the Parc des Princes. But it is a dangerous policy and one that can backfire if things go wrong, as Blackburn fans, who face trips to Brighton and Barnsley this season instead of Old Trafford and the Emirates, will testify to.
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Former Premier League outfit Wolves start their League Cup campaign this Saturday with what should be a straightforward match against Aldershot (Wolves 2/5 to win).
от Австралии за большую проблему, так как тот матч ничего не решал. Да и если посмотреть фортуне в лицо, то за победный бросок Фридзона на последних секундах в кольцо Бразилии, россияне расплатились с австралийцами. Но вернемся в день сегодняшний, так как игры в группах закончились, нас ожидают «матчи на вылет».
Liverpool are in Europa League third qualifying round second leg action against Gomel on Thursday at Anfield as they look set to seal their place in the play-off round of the tournament.
Celtic head to Finnair Stadium on Wednesday desperate to improve on a wretched away record in the Champions League and keep their European dream alive (KO 19:00 CET 20:00 local time).
двухматчевом противостоянии в рамках любого еврокубка победа со счетом 2:1 на своем поле именно такой победой и является. Да, безусловно, выиграть на своем поле – это лучше чем свести матч к ничьей, но если вы пропускаете у себя, то будьте готовы к тому, что вам точно предстоит забивать на чужом поле.
В конце концов, когда вы оказываетесь четвертыми и остаетесь без медали, то это означает, что вы 4-й в мире!!! А многие из вас могут похвастаться тем, что они 4-е из шести миллиардов человек на планете? А уж попасть на пьедестал почета… это бесценно!
The Men’s Olympic Football tournament semi-finals take place on Tuesday and, aside from Brazil, there are some surprise countries in the last four with South Korea, Mexico and Japan all still in the hunt for the Gold medal.
помним четыре сета в которых швейцарец имел проблемы только в первом, а дальше за счет опыта спокойно довел матч до победы. Но теперь мы находимся на турнире, который проходит один раз в четыре года, а значит ставки значительно выше.
в Перми у ЦСКА нарисовались проблемы глобального масштаба. Матч с «Амкаром» лишил Леонида Слуцкого Сергея Игнашевича и Алана Дзагоева, молодого армейского форварда так и вовсе дисквалифицировали на три матча. Такая потеря может создать проблемы даже тренеру сборной России, что уж говорить, что перед игрой с основным конкурентом у «красно-синих» серьезные проблемы.