Dominant PSG chase continental supremacy

Paris — With a 10th Ligue 1 title in the last 12 seasons, Paris St Germain have made their dominance in French football a matter of routine rather than a contest.

Their 24-point lead over Monaco with six games left means they have sealed this season’s title and tells the story of a club operating on a different planet to their rivals, a machine fine-tuned for relentless success on home soil.

Luis Enrique’s side have been ruthless, their 6-1 mauling of St Etienne eight days ago yet another flex of their muscles, a statement that, even with change, their grip on French football remains ironclad.

The victory against St Etienne extended their unbeaten away run to 38 games, a feat matched in the top five European leagues only by AC Milan from 1991-93, and while Saturday’s 1-0 win against Angers was not impressive, it wrapped up the inevitable.

PSG can also become the only team in the French top flight to remain unbeaten throughout a season, which has been another procession and potentially damages the value of Ligue 1.

“We’ve been the best team since the start of the season. We’ve been champions for weeks now,” said Enrique, who has lost only two of his 61 league games with PSG.

Even the departure of Kylian Mbappe has not loosened PSG’s stranglehold, instead giving the team a more collective mindset that allowed them to see off Liverpool in the Champions League last 16.

Ousmane Dembele has filled the void with style, slotting into a false nine role and netting 23 times this year, his performances even sparking murmurs of a Ballon d’Or challenge.

Their transformation under Enrique has extended beyond Ligue 1 and, while the ghosts of previous European failures still linger, their commanding progress at the expense of Liverpool hinted at a new, steelier PSG.

A quarterfinal against Aston Villa now awaits and, after that, a French Cup final against Stade de Reims will provide another test of PSG’s hunger.

With the league wrapped up, Enrique’s challenge is to keep his players sharp, their focus unwavering.

“It’s about motivation,” said Enrique, who was criticised when PSG struggled at the beginning of the season. “We have big goals to chase. “We still have important matches to play to maintain the fairness of the championship, and we want to finish unbeaten,” the Spaniard said on Saturday.

For PSG, Ligue 1 has become a procession. But this season, like all the others since Qatar Sport Investments took over in June 2011, will be judged on what comes next — their pursuit of continental supremacy, the one prize that has always eluded them.

Reuters