Harvest time for farmers' league as PSG make light work of Europe's best

Times

2 days ago

The strange thing is, nobody really calls it the farmers' league. Maybe in a few memes, on the odd message board, in some of the more heated corners of social media, but no serious football person thinks of Ligue 1 as a competition for agriculteurs.
What is a farmers' league anyway? It would be one in which the players are part-time, which France's are not, and the football crude, which French football is not. There is also a hint of unworthiness or weakness in there, yet French clubs have performed reasonably well in Europe this season.
Monaco, Lille and Brest all made it out of the Champions League group stage, and while none of the three won their next knockout game, Brest were eliminated by this season's champions Paris Saint-Germain, Monaco lost a thrilling tie 4-3 to Benfica and Lille went down 3-2 to Borussia Dortmund. No shame there. In the Europa League, Lyon lost that crazy game to Manchester United in the quarter-finals, meaning only Lens and Nice in the lesser competitions truly disappointed.
France's problem is with history. Until this weekend, no French club had won a European trophy since PSG claimed the Cup Winners' Cup in 1996. Even the country's previous European Cup win, by Marseille in 1993, was tainted by corruption. For too long the reputation of French football has been that it produces brilliant individuals, as shown by the performances of the national team, who graduate to clubs in wealthier, more successful, leagues and conquer Europe from there. Since 2010, only Liverpool and Manchester City have won the Champions League without a Frenchman on the pitch.
So, no, it most certainly isn't the farmers' league. Still, the perception in Paris is of disrespect. Luis Enrique, PSG's coach, references the jibe frequently as though he hears it all the time. No doubt it is a useful motivational tool to tell his players the world thinks they are akin to labourers. It's just not true. Long before they utterly dismantled Inter Milan, excellent judges such as Liverpool's Arne Slot had PSG down as the best team in Europe and when Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta sniffily disagreed and placed his own team first he was widely ridiculed. Yet even if Ligue 1 really was just PSG and every other team made up the numbers — and, yes, that is sometimes how it looks from the outside — it wouldn't matter. If anything it makes their achievement this season even greater.
Since PSG took control of domestic competition in France — they have won ten of the past 12 titles — their superiority has been viewed as the cause of weakness in Europe. Each time they have fallen short in the Champions League — and their record in the 12 seasons preceding this comprises five exits in the round of 16, four quarter-finals, two semi-finals and a losing final — it has been suggested that their domestic dominance is in part responsible. PSG have it too easy, runs the argument, and then when they need to raise standards against the European elite, the improvement simply isn't there. It's the same with Celtic; the domestic ease makes them soft.
And maybe this has been true. If so, however, it is to the immense credit of Luis Enrique and this group of players that a way has been found to maintain such a high level against the elite of Europe when the domestic competition is not comparably challenging. PSG won this season's title in the first week of April and the Champions League on the last day in May, which flies in the face of the idea this squad needs toughening up. Now, of course, it will be said that Luis Enrique has been able to keep his players fresh with the domestic campaign done. Yet both arguments cannot be true. It can't be that Ligue 1 leaves PSG too lightly raced to compete, yet also keeps them fresh for battle.
Equally, it really doesn't matter about the other 17 clubs. Transport any Premier League team across the channel to Ligue 1 and, if PSG were still involved, it would remain a damned hard competition to win. Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City and Aston Villa all found PSG too hot to handle at various times in this campaign. The Premier League rightly boasts of its strength in depth but it is usually just one, at most two, other clubs that keep a title race going. Liverpool found it hard to win the Premier League under Jürgen Klopp because of one team, City, not ten.
That is the other myth of the French farmers' league. A farm only requires one really good farmer. If the men's 100m final was you, six men in flip flops with their legs tied together, plus Usain Bolt, you're still not getting gold. The Rugby World Cup is frequently decried for the same reason. Yet even if it were reduced to four teams, but the quartet comprised New Zealand, South Africa and France, Steve Borthwick would still have his work cut out leading England to glory.
What we are now seeing in PSG is a French club fully realising its potential. Not just its wealth but its resources. The northern suburbs of the city, in particular, are arguably the greatest reserve of natural talent in Europe. We talk of England's North East or the football cages in south London, but the mystery with PSG has always been why they did not tap into the talent on their doorstep and why players such as William Saliba were so easily lost to French club football.
Now PSG have moved on from their galactico period, young men like Senny Mayulu — the 19-year-old who scored the fifth goal against Inter — look like the future. PSG also have the clout to pluck the best products from their rivals. Désiré Doué came from Rennes, the club that also produced Eduardo Camavinga, Mikaël Silvestre, Mathys Tel, Sylvain Wiltord — and Ousmane Dembélé. Its production line fed players to England, both homegrown and scouted discoveries. Petr Cech, Jérémy Doku, Raphinha and Abdoulaye Doucouré all came to the Premier League from Rennes. Yet when the best young squad in Europe is being nurtured 200 miles away in Paris, that route may become less travelled.
The hope is PSG, having first harmed the competition with domination, now pull Ligue 1 up with them. Earlier this month it was reported the French federation was considering having a final four tournament to decide the champions, adding a layer of jeopardy to the PSG procession. There were plans to restructure governance along the lines of the Premier League, while ditching broadcast rights holders in favour of an in-house streaming service. It sounded like French football was in crisis.
Having the continent's best team may just change that. PSG's triumph could not have come at a better moment. It's harvest time in the farmers' league, one might say.