Lyon’s Laurent Blanc on PSG struggles: “When you’re out of the Champions League, the season is over.”

PSG suffered a second Ligue 1 home loss on the bounce on Sunday, the league leaders falling to defeat at the Parc des Princes against ninth-placed Lyon. Promising French winger Bradley Barcola (20) scored the only goal of the game just before the hour mark. It was another underwhelming and disjointed display from the Christophe Galtier-led side, who have only a 6-point lead at the top with nine games left to play.

As for Lyon’s head coach Laurent Blanc, revenge is sweet. The 1998 World Cup winner was sacked from the PSG dugout in 2016 after three successful years at the helm of Les Parisiens. Blanc led PSG to three Ligue 1 titles, three League Cups and two French Cups. However, Blanc, like his successors after him, suffered from PSG’s obsession to win the Champions League. According to him, as soon as the club is out of Europe’s showpiece club competition, the season has ended. “That’s how it is, you feel it, assessed Blanc in his post-game press conference that RMC Sport attended. “If you’re still in the Champions League, everything is well. When you’re out of the Champions League, it’s over, the season is over. And you talk about the next season. It’s difficult to motivate all the players for the objective of winning the league.“

PSG will need to return to winning ways fast. Les Parisiens will travel to Nice, Galtier’s former club, for a tricky away game for Ligue 1 gameweek 30 on Saturday.

GFFN | Bastien Cheval