Let’s put it this way: there are more chances that Lionel Messi signs with Barcelona than for PSG miss on a title this season. Ligue 1 starts on Friday with a Monaco – Nantes game and if Paris Saint Germain were favorites last season, they are even bigger favorites this year. The reason? Money. While all other clubs had to wait to see how much money will they get from the TV rights this year, the Quatar owned club was in league of it’s own: they have spent big and with (or without) possible Messi signature, Pochettino’s men will be looking for both Ligue 1 and Champions League title. And they have the squad for it.2️⃣4️⃣⏳ hours…pic.twitter.com/4Q6jxP6aNP— Ligue1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) August 5, 2021 Since the end of last season, Les Parisiens signed three free agent stars: Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos, former Champions League winner Georginio Wijnaldum and Euro 2020 player of the tournament Gianluigi Donnarumma. On top of that, they have bought Achraf Hakimi and Danilo Pereira for the combined fee of 97.3 billion Ksh. They have a deep squad which is capable of fighting in three fronts: The Champions League, Ligue 1 and the French Cup.The good news is that after PSG, the race is wide open fot the second and third place, which means the Champions League. Defending champions Lille will be battling for those spots, since they had to sell, due to financial crisis and are in no way capable of challenging PSG. Apart from their tactical magician Christophe Galtier, Lille are also without Boubakary Soumare and Mike Magnack, while Sven Botman, Renato Sanches, Jonathan David and Jonathan Ikone have a lot of suitors and could be sold in order to balance the books. One of the main stars is Burak Yilmaz, but the last year’s talisman is 36 years old and he is clearly not the future. But, they still managed to defeat (again) PSG last week, in the Champions Trophy.No Neymar, no Mbappe – no win! Lille defeats PSG and wins the Champions TrophyIn the absence of Lille, Marseille have strengthen their squad according to Jorge Sampaoli’s wishes and they cannot afford another season out of the top four. Matteo Guendouzi and William Saliba (loan) both came from Arsenal, while winger Cengiz Under arrived on loan from Roma, and Brazilian midfielder Gerson was bought from Flamengo, as well as Luan Peres from Santos, Konrad de la Fuente from Barcelona, and keeper Pau Lopez (loan from Roma).Monaco is maybe the most serious candidate for the second place and maybe they can „sweat“ PSG in their ride to the first place. The team is pretty much intact from last season, which means that deadly attacking duo Kevin Volland and Wissam Ben Yedder are still there, accompanied by new striker Myron Boadu from AZ Alkmaar. They have also bought Jean Lucas from Lyon, and also have a mix of promising youngster (Aurelien Tchouameni) and experienced midfielder (Cesc Fabregas).And here it is: first fans boycott due to Covid measures starts in FranceLyon, Nice and Rennes should be also considered as teams who can break into the top four for various reasons. Lyon should be among the best, but they lost their best striker Memphis Depay, didn’t have such a great transfer window (so far) and have a new coach Peter Bosz. Nice will definitely attack the Champions League spot, since they brought Christophe Galtier as a coach, and splashed the cash on Calvin Stengs, Jean-Clair Todibo, Pablo Rosario, Mario Lemina, Melvin Bard, Jean N’Guessan, Marcin Bulka and Justin Kluivert. With a talented young squad, Rennes are always there at the top, and this season should be the same.The debutantes from League 2 are the strongest candidates for coming down, with the exception of Troyes, who will be backed accordingly, since they became a part of the City group, a Britished based holding company, most famous for running such clubs like Manchester City and New York City, and have been given a decent transfer kitty in their quest for Ligue 1 survival. Teams like Brest, Lorient and Nantes were nearly relegated last year, and some of them will face relegation battle again, most likely Brest.LIGUE 1 ROUND 1Friday22:00 Monaco – NantesSaturday18:00 Lyonnais- Stade Brestois 2922:00 Troyes – PSGSunday14:00 Stade Rennais – RC Lens16:00 Bordeaux – Clermont Foot 6316:00 OGC Nice – Stade de Reims16:00 Saint-Etienne – Lorient16:00 Strasbourg – Angers18:00 Metz – Lille OSC21:45 Montpellier – Olympique de Marseille
