Paris Saint-Germain faces nearest challenger Lens in a crunch sport within the Ligue 1 title race on Saturday however the build-up has been overshadowed by accusations made towards the capital membership’s coach, Christophe Galtier.
The 56-year-old was this week pressured to situation a press release through his lawyer categorically denying that he made discriminatory remarks in the direction of gamers when in command of Nice final season.
That got here after allegations that surfaced in an electronic mail apparently despatched by the previous Nice sporting director Julien Fournier and which have been reported by varied French media.
The message, which AFP has not been in a position to confirm, was reportedly despatched by Fournier to Dave Brailsford — the previous head of British Cycling and now Director of Sport at Ineos, the house owners of Nice — and accused Galtier of constructing racist and Islamophobic remarks referring to the squad.
Galtier has obtained threats for the reason that studies surfaced and has been positioned underneath safety by PSG. His lawyer has promised to take authorized motion.
The coach left Nice for Paris on the finish of final season and PSG’s main supporters’ group, Collectif Ultras Paris, mentioned it could “not be acceptable” for him to stay in cost if the allegations have been confirmed to be true.
Galtier had already been underneath growing stress resulting from PSG’s faltering type since they have been knocked out of the Champions League within the final 16 by Bayern Munich final month.
Successive residence defeats towards Rennes and Lyon had allowed Lens to shut the hole on the high of the desk earlier than PSG gained 2-0 at Nice final weekend due to objectives by Lionel Messi and Sergio Ramos.
The reigning champions due to this fact come into Saturday’s showdown on the Parc des Princes with a lead of six factors over their nearest rivals.
That means they are going to be primed to go on and declare a French document eleventh league title so long as they keep away from defeat this weekend, with Lens certainly needing to win to maintain the race alive.
“If the Parisians win they will be nine points ahead of us and the title will be decided,” admitted Lens supervisor Franck Haise because the northern membership dream of a primary title since 1998.
“They also have the experience. That doesn’t mean we won’t try to cause them problems but they have international-class players and we will need to be at our best individually and collectively.
“If we are a bit below that we know what will happen.”
Player to observe: Facundo MedinaLens have one of the best defensive document in Ligue 1 and Facundo Medina has been excellent of their three-man again line. The 23-year-old Argentinian worldwide, who missed out on a spot of their World Cup squad, may also contribute in assault as he did final weekend by scoring his group’s winner towards Strasbourg.
Medina this week apologised after joking in a programme broadcast on Youtube and Twitch about how he deliberate to defend towards Kylian Mbappe and his compatriot Messi on Saturday. He mentioned that if Messi was operating away from him, he would “grab him, embrace him, and say ‘Give me a hug, thanks for the (World) Cup’”. He then added that, for Mbappe, “they’ll need to bring an ambulance”.
“It was a joke and taken out of context,” he later wrote on Instagram. “My sincere apologies for the misunderstanding.”
Key stats
6 – The variety of factors separating PSG from Lens. A win for PSG on Saturday would stretch their result in 9 factors with seven video games remaining.
3 – PSG haven’t gained any of their final three conferences with Lens. Defeat on Saturday would see the capital membership lose three in a row at residence within the league for the primary time since February to April 2021.
14 – Messi has 14 objectives and 14 assists in Ligue 1 this season.
