The French league association has postponed what is likely to be the decisive match for the championship – to the annoyance of RC Lens. There was also bad news for Mainz 05.
Two French clubs are currently still represented in the European competitions. Ligue 1 now wants to increase the chances of success for both teams – possibly at the expense of equal opportunities in its own competition. As the French league association LFP announced on Thursday, the corresponding board of directors has “unanimously decided” to reschedule the matches of Paris St. Germain and Racing Strasbourg between the respective quarter-finals in the Champions League and the Conference League.
PSG will face Liverpool FC in the quarter-finals of the top flight on April 8 and 14. Between the first and second legs, the potentially decisive top-of-the-league match with RC Lens was actually scheduled for April 11. The surprise team from northern France is currently just one point behind the serial champions from the capital with one more game to play – and had recently clearly resisted postponing the game.
The team had a “worrying feeling that the French championship is gradually being degraded to an adjustment variable that is subordinate to the European requirements of a few”, they said in a statement on Monday. As a result of the postponement, Lens will have a 15-day break from competition and will then have to compete every three days. The club therefore lamented “a peculiar concept of sporting fairness for which one can hardly find an equivalent in other major continental competitions”.
PSG had already obtained the postponement of the league match against FC Nantes, which was originally scheduled between the two matches in the Champions League round of 16 against Chelsea FC. Nantes had agreed to the postponement at the time – unlike Lens now. In France, however, the authority to postpone matches lies solely with the board of directors of the league association in accordance with its statutes.
The latter justified its decision in a statement with the “strategic orientation of securing France fifth place in the UEFA ranking, which guarantees four starting places in the UEFA Champions League”. The club therefore wanted to guarantee both PSG and Strasbourg “optimal conditions” for their preparations for the respective quarter-finals.
Also Mainz opponent Strasbourg gets time off
The decision is also bad news for Mainz 05, who will face Racing Strasbourg in the Conference League quarter-finals on 9 and 16 April, who will now also have a weekend off between the first and second legs and can prepare for the second leg in the best possible way. Alsace’s game at Stade Brest, scheduled for April 12, will also be postponed.
Both games – Lens v PSG and Brest v Strasbourg – will instead be played on Wednesday, May 13, immediately before the season finale. As a compromise, the league association also suggested to RC Lens that the league match against Nantes, which is scheduled before the rescheduling of the top match, be brought forward to a Friday – but only in the event that PSG qualify for the Champions League semi-finals.