BEVERLY HILLS, May 24, (THEWILL) – In the third of Europe’s biggest leagues to see a change of guard at the title podium, Lille followed in the steps of Atletico Madrid of the Spanish La Liga and Inter Milan of Italy’s Serie A to usurp the trophy from serial winners Paris Saint-Germain of the French Ligue 1 with sheer dint of hard work, tactical management and good fortune.
By doing so, they seized the title from the dominant Parisian club that was seeking another consecutive domestic title to make it the first time PSG will not be celebrating since the 2017/2018 campaign as they were eliminated from their fourth in a row.
Much of Lille’s competitiveness in Ligue 1 has been down to their coach, Christopher Galtier, who was appointed in December 2017 to take charge of Lille’s ambitions in the domestic competition and their European aspirations. Since moving to Stade Pierre-Mauroy, the French manager engineered a turnover that, in four years, has led to dethroning the champions.
For a side that used to struggle to stay competitive, Galtier’s coming brought a steeliness that strengthened the core of the team and immediately saw them challenging for honours. They were runners up in the league in the 2018/2019 season as the manager’s changes began to work a difference and three years after, they have stubbornly held on to win with a single point over their more illustrious competitors, Les Parisiens.
It took Galtier four years, but he has accomplished the unthinkable against a club boasting the striking potency of Kylian Mbappe and the masterful wizardry of Neymar. But, Lille won while maintaining the best defensive record in Europe’s top five leagues in the 2020-2021 season. They conceded just 23 goals the entire season.
One reason was the consistency of Mike Maignan, Lille’s goalkeeper. The dependable man-in-goal registered 21 clean sheets, a record that is unmatched anywhere in the top five leagues across Europe. That is why, although PSG outscored everyone else, with 86 goals, Lille won with just 64 but kept their defense tight and compact to make each goal count.
PSG may have fired the German manager with whom they began the season, Thomas Tuchel, and brought in former player Mauricio Pochettino as manager in midseason, but with the huffing and puffing that they did to push ahead of Lille, Galtier’s charges remained steadfast to the end.
It will sting that with all their investments and big spending, they lost out on the league and in Europe for another season and their Coupe de France, which they won on Wednesday, 19 May, will not be sufficient enough to assuage the pain of losing these two biggest prospects.
But, they have to now map out plans to improve the team by making squad changing decisions according to how Pochettino believes his side can be made better to make them favourable title contenders and winners, and make all their big money spendings be profitable.
Whether they can hold on to Kylian Mbappe will matter in the grand scheme of things. Neymar signed a new contract and will most likely join in the rebuilding efforts but the work is cut out for Pochettino and he must be ready for the tough calls that will need to be made for the sake of the club’s future reckoning.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
