Euro Bites: Ligue 1

With the traditional curtain-raising Trophee des Champions now out of the way, all eyes have turned to the kick-off of the new Ligue 1 season.

Le Championnat will get underway in Lille on Friday, when Les Dogues host French champions Paris Saint-Germain and here is a round up of the main stories from the final week of pre-season.

PSG WIN THIRD STRAIGHT TROPHEE DES CHAMPIONS

For the third consecutive year, PSG are Trophee des Champions winners. The capital club are still some way from equalling Olympique Lyonnais’ six straight titles between 2002 and 2007, but a 2-0 win over Les Gones at Stade Saputo in Montreal over the weekend has given them a fifth overall. Serge Aurier and Edinson Cavani got the goals, but it was a rejuvenated Zlatan Ibrahimovic who caught the eye in Canada, wowing spectators with a dazzling array of his trademark magic tricks and flicks.

LYON INJURY WOES COMPOUND MISERABLE PRE-SEASON

Lyon’s 2-0 defeat to PSG in North America capped a miserable pre-season for Hubert Fournier’s men. OL only won one of their six preparatory games, losing the other five and that barren run has seen playmaker Clement Grenier and defensive midfielder Gueida Fofana succumb to injuries that will once again rule the fragile pair out for lengthy periods of time. On topic of injury-prone players, Olympique de Marseille have taken a gamble of their own by signing Abou Diaby from Arsenal on a free transfer. The injury-ravaged Frenchman was unveiled alongside compatriot Lassana Diarra prior to OM’s 2-0 friendly win over Juventus.

MONACO ON COURSE FOR CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP STAGE

Ligue 1 is hoping to have three representatives in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League this season for the first time since 2012-13. AS Monaco could join French champions PSG and last season’s runners-up Lyon in the main draw and Leonardo Jardim’s men took a step in the right direction with a 3-1 win away at BSC Young Boys in the first leg of their qualifier. Layvin Kurzawa, Guido Carrillo and Mario Pasalic got the goals for Les Monegasques to give them a strong advantage ahead of Tuesday’s second leg at Stade Louis II. If the principality outfit can navigate a tricky play-off round, Le Championnat’s third team will have made it in.

SAINT-ETIENNE AND BORDEAUX TARGETING EUROPA LEAGUE PROGRESS

The French top-flight also needs its UEFA Europa League representatives to fare better than they have done in the past and AS Saint-Etienne and Girondins de Bordeaux have made meaningful starts to their continental campaigns. Both Les Verts and Les Girondins were 3-0 winners in their respective qualifiers, Christophe Galtier’s men away at Romanian side Targu Mures and Willy Sagnol’s at home to Cypriots AEK Larnaca. If both can maintain their strong first leg advantages and make it through the play-off round to come, when Marseille enter the draw, then France could be very well represented in Europe this season.

GAZELEC AJACCIO WARM UP FOR SURVIVAL FIGHT WITH CAGLIARI SCRAP

This season is going to be a fight to survive in Ligue 1 for debutants Gazelec Ajaccio, but they were literally laying into their opponents in their final pre-season run-out against Italian side Cagliari. The “friendly” meeting between the pair had to be abandoned after 81 minutes after the clash descended into a brawl between the players. The Corsican minnows have the odds firmly stacked against them this season and Thierry Laurey has drafted in the likes of experienced heads Kader Managane and Jerome Le Moigne to aid the team in their bid to beat the drop.

REFEREE BAN FOR GETTING SHIRTY

Ligue 1 referee Said Ennjimi has been handed a four-month ban by the French football federation following an tirade against his superiors after it was revealed that he asked players for autographed shirts. Ennjimi, one of Le Championnat’s most seasoned referees, allegedly approached Marseille players before their 5-3 home defeat to FC Lorient last season to ask for six signed shirts for a charity organisation. The OM players refused after their humiliating defeat, enraging the referee, who even offered to buy the shirts. Ennjimi was also given an eight-month suspended sentence after claiming he is the victim of a “man hunt” and branded referees’ technical director Pascal Garibian’s tenure a “reign of terror.”