Champions League exhaustion looms. PSG faces a punishing schedule, playing four days after a crucial European tie. The LFP's decision sparks outrage.
Accused of being generous with the Parisian club, the LFP has decided to schedule the Nice/PSG match of the 27th round of Ligue 1 for Saturday, March 21, rather than Sunday, March 22, while PSG will play a Champions League round of 16 second leg at Chelsea on Tuesday.
Often accused of being at PSG and Nasser Al-Khelaifi's beck and call, the LFP not only gives gifts to the Parisian club. The League unveiled on Wednesday the programming of the 27th round of Ligue 1, which will take place from Friday, March 20 to Sunday, March 22, and the date of the Nice vs. PSG match is surprising.
PSG, which will face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday, March 17, will indeed play again four days later at Nice, on Saturday, March 21. Four days is good, but knowing that the club will travel to London on Tuesday night and play a very demanding match, one could have hoped that they would travel to the Allianz Riviera on Sunday, March 22. That will not be the case.
How to explain this decision? Undoubtedly, by the fact that Lyon and Lille are still involved in the Europa League and will play their round of 16 second leg on Thursday, March 19. The two clubs could therefore not play on Friday or Saturday, but only on Sunday. The Lyon vs. Monaco clash of the 27th round of Ligue 1 will thus take place on Sunday, March 22, while the Marseille vs. Lille match "will be set as soon as possible" according to the LFP, but will necessarily take place on Sunday.
The League had initially planned to play the Marseille vs. Lille clash on Sunday, March 22, but, according to L'Equipe, it was banned by the Ministry of the Interior and the Bouches-du-Rhône Prefecture from scheduling it at that time. Why? Because the public authorities fear unrest in Marseille linked to the results of the municipal elections, the second round of which will take place on March 22, with a result expected around 8 p.m.
The solution could have been to move this match to Saturday, but since Lille plays on Thursday in the Europa League, that's not possible. Still, according to L'Equipe, the LFP has proposed a kickoff at 5:15 p.m. for OM vs. Lille and is now awaiting a response.
To return to PSG, one can suppose that the LFP and Ligue 1+ did not want to see Lyon, Monaco, Marseille, Lille and PSG play on the same day and opted for a scheduling of Nice vs. PSG on Saturday in order to have a more balanced weekend, with Lens on Friday night, PSG on Saturday and the four other teams mentioned above on Sunday. Following this 27th round, there will be the March international break with many Parisians involved.
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