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Finishing this weekend the French football championship "Ligue 1". On Saturday, the last ten, 38th round matches will be played. EuroFootball.com will try to briefly review the situation in the league before the last round.
Although the winners of the first and second places were determined several rounds ago, the championship still boils with a fierce battle for the last spot in the UEFA Champions League and places in the next season's UEFA Europa League.
In the best position in the fight for the right to play in the Champions League next season is the club currently in 3rd place before the last round. In Saturday's match, "Lille", to secure the 3rd position, may only need a draw against , as even if 4th place goes to in that case, beating "Bordeaux" would still remain fourth, as according to the goal difference they would trail Lille club by 16 goals.
Also fighting for theoretical chances to rise to the third place is the already mentioned "Rennes", currently in 5th place. However, these chances are likely to remain theoretical, as in order to achieve the goal, "Rennes" not only needs "Marseille" to fail, but also has to beat "Lille" with an unrealistic goal difference of 13 goals.
An even fiercer battle is taking place for the three places in the UEFA Europa League, which so far are claimed by five clubs. Before the last round, "Marseille", "Rennes", and are currently set to enter this tournament, but they are being chased by and clubs.
In the worst position is the team "Nice", which not only needs to beat this weekend, but also hopes for failures from "Rennes", "Lens", or "Auxerre". Otherwise, these clubs would qualify for the UEFA tournament, although "Auxerre" would only do so if one of the already mentioned "Rennes" or "Lens" faced misfortune.
Nearing the last round, the football players of can feel much calmer, as they occupy only the 9th place, but this season they won the French Cup and secured a place in the next season's UEFA Europa League. This victory was perhaps the only comfort after another poor season for "P.S.G".
However, this season was not bad for all the Parisian club's footballers, as the team's striker from Portugal, Pedro Pauleta, became the top scorer in "Ligue 1". Before the last round, Pauleta has scored 21 goals, while the player in second place, Peter Odemwingie from "Lille", has only scored 14 times.
In Europe next season, we will not see a club that played in the UEFA Champions League final a few years ago, which has had a very erratic season and currently holds only the 11th place. True, in a stroke of luck, the players of the Principality of Monaco can rise to the 9th position after the last round, but this practically has no significance for the team.
Just like at the top of the table, there is no longer any battle at the bottom of the table, where it became clear several rounds ago that after this weekend's matches, and teams will bid farewell to "Ligue 1" and League. Instead, next year in "Ligue 1" will surely play the champions of "Ligue 2" secured "Valenciennes" club, and "Sedan" who will not give up the second place.
Meanwhile, the teams currently in 3rd and 4th places in "Luigue 2" with 63 points each will fight for the last ticket to the highest French football division in the last season's matches.
Last round matches:
"Ajaccio" - "Saint-Etienne" "Lyon" - "Le Mans" "Troyes" - "Nice" "Lens" - "Nantes" "Bordeaux" - "Marseille" "Monaco" - "Nancy" "Rennes" - "Lille" "Toulouse" - "Sochaux" "Metz" - "PSG" "Auxerre" - "Strasbourg"
League table:
