The 29th round of Ligue 1, the first after the international break, kicks off on Friday evening with the match between two former French champions Olympique de Marseille and Montpellier. It’s been more than a decade, however, since Marseille’s last title (2010) and Montpellier’s only title (2012). Marseille – 2nd place and Montpellier – 11th place are two teams passing through a good period. The team from the Vélodrome is coming off two wins and a surprising last minute draw in their previous three games. However, those results that have not brought Marseille any closer to leaders PSG, a team that can still afford to slip up from time to time. Montpellier are unbeaten in the last six rounds, during which they have won five and drew one. In the first leg, Marseille won 2-1 at the Stade de la Mosson.
Rennes (5th) and Lens (3rd) have an interesting duel: Rennes is in high spirits after a 2-0 win over PSG in Paris last time out, while Lens is coming off a five-match unbeaten run in Ligue 1 and is still hoping for second place, the last place that takes a team directly to the Champions League group stage next season. The hosts are counting on the very good form of Belgian striker Lois Openda, 23 years old, the team’s goalscorer with 14 goals, five in the last two rounds.
After three consecutive draws (11 in total), but unbeaten for three months since Didier Digard took over as interim coach, Nice – in seventh place with 44 points – has the chance to record its 12th win of the season. Nice play away to last-placed Angers, who has just 10 points after 28 games and is basically relegated.
Two teams who also face relegation are Auxerre (17th place – 23 points) and Troyes (18th place – 21 points). Those two will meet in a direct match at Auxerre’s Stade de l’Abbé-Deschamp this round. In the first match, at the Stade de l’Aube in Troyes, it was a 1-1 draw. Troyes is going through a catastrophic period. Since the 3-2 away win over Strasbourg on 2 January,
the team coached by Australian Patrick Kisnorbo has collected just three points in 11 games!
In a desperate situation, in 19th place, second last with 21 points, AC Ajaccio hope to get something out of the away leg at Clermont-Ferrand. In 12th place with 34 points, Clermont has lost its last two league games.
Paris Saint-Germain, the current and most likely future French champions, will close out the 29th round Sunday night. PSG has a chance to wash away the shame of the last round, when they lost at home to Rennes against Olympique Lyonnais, a team that had an inconstant season – 10th in Ligue 1, Lyon are coming off three consecutive draws. In the first round in Lyon, PSG narrowly won 1-0.
