I think this could be Lille's last hurrah. They've survived losing Rami, Cabaye, and Gervinho but they wont survive losing Hazard, Cole, and Sow. Cole and Sow could still stay but as of right now they arent since Sow hasnt extended his contract and Cole is on loan and makes a lot of money. Maybe with the new stadium the budget gets a lot bigger and they sign bigger players but Im not convinced it will happen yet. How about hiring a real European manager first instead of a French guy who isnt European battle tested and ready.
For the first time since 1977, there will be no French club in the C3 cup round of 32. We're going straight to the 6th UEFA rank and worse to expect. How did anybody really believe we would compete against Italy....
1977 ? Wow thats amazing. Clubs need to hire the best managers possible instead of always going with the cheaper French guys. I really think thats the problem. They never look for the best manager available like they do in other countries. Thankfully PSG is doing that now.
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Wouldn't be shocked to see Lyon eliminated and Marseille go through, not sure I'd trust this Lyon squad as a clear favorite.
Well when we are playing Barca in the final and its 3-0 Barca in the first half, I'm running to the betting store to put my life savings on a Lyon victory. That should set me up for life!
Maybe I'm off here but I'm convinced the main reason Portugal does so well in Europe is because they can have unlimited Brazilians on their roster. I know France can have unlimited Africans but Brazilians are much better than Africans no doubt. Porto have more South Americans than Portuguese on their roster. So if France is battling Portugal for UEFA coefficients then I can so why its so close. Much more very good South American than African players. Andre Ayew won African player of the year and thats telling because it tells me no great African players at "big clubs." Braga made the Europa League final last year and there's no way the French equivilent of Braga (Rennes ?) would even have a chance to go that far. The closest I could think of for a comparision is maybe Lens making the UEFA Cup semis in 2000? Only the "big clubs" in France can make European finals. The "French Fulham" has no chance like the real Fulham did.
I'd say the main reason is that Porto and Benfica for example are genuinely well run big clubs (I mean look at who Porto has bought in the transfer market the last 5 years and compare it to say Marseille who probably spent more money). I'd say another big reason is that the Portuguese league is much more un-even than Ligue 1 last year Porto won the league with 86 points, the 2nd team Benfica had 63 points and then the 3rd team Sporting had 48 points., it's easier to put a bigger focus on a European game for a club like say Porto who will finish top 2, top 3 at worst pretty much no matter what, Lille and PSG for example have to squad rotate much more (especially in the europa leage= because they are much more likely to lose points at say Lorient away rather then if they got to play Olhanense (of course I haven't watch a single Portuguese league game in my life so the analysis might be faulty). The french coefficient would undoubtedly improve if say Marseille, Lyon and PSG were guaranteed top 3 spots every year and could invest all that CL money year after year and grow bigger and bigger in terms of support and economic strength in comparison to the rest of the league like Porto and Benfica can, now instead you have teams like Auxerre crashing the party. I also suspect the Portuguese clubs enjoy a better tax situation then the France teams but I'm not sure about the details there.
I see what you are saying but how does that explain Braga (not one of Portugal's "Big 3") making the Europa League final
One argument could be since they are pretty "cemented" in their league position compared to french teams of similar size they can put more focus in the Europa league while teams such as Montpellier or Rennes can drop down to 12-14th if they stretch their squad too thin. But also they are up and coming club that had a great cup run in europe, that can certainly happen to french team as well (Steaua Bucharest went to the semifinals with a favorable draw a couple of years ago for example). I mean Bordeaux went undefeated in a champions league group with Juventus and Bayern Munchen, beat the later finalist Bayern Munchen H2H) and won the group, went to the quarter finals were they just as well could had beaten Lyon and made the semis, and that I'd say is a accomplishment pretty equal to that of Braga (a better one if you look at the amount of prize money involved in CL compared to EL).
while the advantage SB333 is mentioning is real and i agree with it, it's not incongruous by any means: the braganza royal family were both kings of portugal and emperors of brazil and at least a couple of them elected residence in brazil, so the historical ties between the two countries are very deep.
Portuguese League has only 16 teams so they have got the energy and the will to play the Europa League as far as possible. French clubs only dream to get out of it as soon as possible. Biggest Portugal club budget is 70M... Porto... the same as Lille, half of Lyon.
So the update this thread. 2 games played and 2 victories for Ligue 1 so far in knockout stages and both team have reasonable chances to go through to the quarterfinals. Ligue 1 is currently the 5th best performing league in Europe this season and is actually widening the gap to Portugal, Ukraine and Russia so far this season.
They would be doing better if PSG was still in the Europa League and they would be if Ancelloti was there at the start of the season.
I know I'm beating a dead horse here but if you want to do well in Europe then hire a "European manager." Funny how Apoel's manager is Serbian and yet French teams rarely hire non French managers. Other countries dont seem to have a problem going outside their borders for managers. If PSG falls short next year in Europe with Ancelloti it will be because they lost to the better team and not because of bonehead tactics or lack of effort/motovation.