Midfielder’s 67th-minute deflected strike secures 1-0 win Game stopped in German Cup over fans’ alleged racism Paris St Germain began their Ligue 1 title defence with a hard-fought 1-0 win at Nantes on Sunday thanks to a second-half goal from their Portugal midfielder Vitinha. Fresh from their Super Cup triumph over Tottenham Hotspur in a shootout on Wednesday, PSG lacked their usual urgency in front of goal, going in at half-time without having carved out any real chances against a disciplined Nantes defence. PSG eventually broke the deadlock when Vitinha’s strike from distance in the 67th minute took a deflection off Nantes defender Chidozie Awaziem and curled into the far corner. Nantes then began to concede more space and PSG thought they had doubled their lead minutes later through Gonçalo Ramos but the striker’s effort was ruled out for offside. Continue reading...

Former coach’s conduct is said to be the tip of the iceberg and Fifa continues to investigate matters related to abuse It was at a press conference to announce Gabon’s squad for an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Burundi in August 2018 that Pierre-Alain Mounguengui admitted Gabonese football had a problem. After shocking revelations made by Shiva “Star” Nzigou – a former striker who played for the French club Nantes and won 24 caps – that a network of paedophiles had been operating in the country for more than two decades, the president of the Gabon football association (Fegafoot) since 2014 felt obliged to comment. “Before Shiva Star Nzigou’s statements, we knew that in Gabon there were similar signs and other indications,” Mounguengui said. “In the past, without naming names, we had people in certain clubs and sports venues who were hired to coach young people, but the education of a child begins at the grassroots. If they are deformed at the root, it is sometimes difficult to straighten them out. If we can have adults [coaches] of good moral character, I think it’s possible to stem this phenomenon.” Continue reading...

Olmo scores winner early in second half against MallorcaPSG held 1-1 by Nantes but retain unbeaten run Barcelona’s Dani Olmo scored inside the first minute of the second half to earn a hard-fought 1-0 home win against Mallorca, extending their lead in La Liga over Real Madrid at the top of the table to seven points with five games to go. Barça dominated proceedings despite coach Hansi Flick deciding to rest several key starters ahead of Saturday’s Copa del Rey final against bitter rivals Real, but Mallorca goalkeeper Leo Román put on a show between the posts to keep them at bay. Continue reading...

Match will be remembered for the keeper’s horror injury but may also come to be seen as the day the title was decided By Luke Entwistle for Get French Football News Title deciders don’t usually come in December but this certainly had the air of one. Paris Saint-Germain’s draws against Nantes and then Auxerre had opened the door to challengers but it was slammed shut on an eerie evening in Monaco. Initially scheduled to take place in early January, this match was brought forward due to an addition to the calendar – the Trophée des Champions. The French equivalent of the Community Shield, pitting the winners of Ligue 1 against that of the Coupe de France (or the second-placed team in Ligue 1 in the event of a domestic double, a feat PSG achieved last season), it was set to take place in China before the start of the season. However, Chinese authorities pulled out of hosting the event at the last minute. Continue reading...

White tape covered badge supporting LGBTQ communityFrench sports minister calls for ‘strongest sanctions’ The French sports minister, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, called on Monday for “the strongest sanctions” against Monaco’s Mohamed Camara and his Ligue 1 club after the badge on the midfielder’s shirt supporting the LGBTQ community was covered up. The 24-year-old Camara’s badge was covered with white tape before Monaco’s final league match of the season on Sunday in which he netted a penalty in their 4-0 home win against Nantes. Continue reading...

Return of Mikautadze, last year’s Ligue 2 player of the season, from Ajax has been mutually beneficial for player and club By Eric Devin for Get French Football News In Ligue 1’s maiden season with 18 teams, one had the feeling that some had little chance of staying up. Fewer teams theoretically projects to a higher average standard, but it also means sides lacking in quality are likely to be found out. That axiom has generally held true — through the course of the season, most sides, even in the bottom half, have been able to call on a player who is superlative in their position, or at least capable of conjuring something out of nothing. Le Havre may be an exception owing to the hard-driving ethos put in place by Luka Elsner but Nantes (Moses Simon), Montpellier (Téji Savanier) and Toulouse (Thijs Dallinga) all have players with a bit of magic. Continue reading...

Nice, Lens, Rennes and Marseille all had eyes on Champions League football but Paulo Fonseca’s side are clear favourites By Eric Devin for Get French Football News The Ligue 1 table has been nip and tuck in its first season with 18 teams, Paris Saint-Germain, of course, the notable exception. Even though they have drawn four of their last six league matches, they still have a 10-point lead at the top of the table but below them, everything has been much tighter. The two teams at the bottom of the table, Clermont and Metz, have remained competitive throughout the campaign and are rarely outclassed. The four sides above them – Nantes, Le Havre, Lorient and Montpellier – continue scrapping to avoid the relegation playoff, even if Montpellier’s win over Lorient this weekend has given them room to breathe. And as closely fought as the relegation battle has been, the jousting for Champions League spots has been even more intense. Continue reading...

Nantes have sacked two managers this season and are now turning to a man they fired 10 months ago By Luke Entwistle for Get French Football News Waldemar Kita’s short-termism and paranoia has stifled Nantes in recent years and, as the club hops back on to the managerial roundabout once again, the owner’s approach could yet lead to relegation. Kita has already fired two managers this season: Pierre Aristouy in November and Jocelyn Gourvennec, who was sacked after a 3-1 home defeat to Strasbourg, on Sunday. “We have felt for a while that we were taking a bad turn,” said Kita in November. That statement sums up Nantes’ direction of travel since he took control of the club in 2007. However, this was not a moment of profound self-reflection from the president. Instead, it was his justification for sacking Aristouy. Continue reading...

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang cannot stop scoring for new manager Jean-Louis Gasset By Eric Devin for Get French Football News Ligue 1 clubs are being rewarded for making bold choices to change managers this season. Lyon under Pierre Sage are not yet mathematically safe but, with six teams and as many points separating them from the relegation playoff spot, they look set to keep their place in the top flight. Rennes under Julien Stéphan will be chagrined to have conceded stoppage-time equalisers in two of their last three matches, but they are still very much in the running for Europe and are still in the Coupe de France. Nantes are still in a bit of bother, but a win against Strasbourg on Sunday would go a long way towards securing survival for Jocelyn Gourvennec’s team. The recent appointment of Jean-Louis Gasset, seemingly the most desperate of the season in France, is proving the most inspired. Marseille have won all five of their matches under Gasset, scoring 18 goals and conceding just three. Given his ignominious departure from his position as Ivory Coast manager in January, Gasset looked to be nothing more than an experienced pair of hands. But his cool temperament and understanding of French football has made him better suited to the pressure cooker at the Stade Vélodrôme than his predecessor, Gennaro Gattuso. Continue reading...

Lyon, Marseille, Nantes and Rennes have all enjoyed an uptick in results after changing managers By Eric Devin for Get French Football News Ligue 1 has been no stranger to managerial changes this season. Marseille and Lyon alone have churned through six permanent appointments between them. Sacking and replacing managers is often the work of rash or poorly organised clubs, but could this be a campaign in which those changes bear fruit? This weekend saw positive results for all four of the sides who have changed managers this season: Lyon, Marseille and Nantes all won, and Rennes achieved an impressive 1-1 draw at the Parc des Princes – and that came a few days after they had beaten Milan 3-2 in the Europa League. Julien Stéphan’s side did not hold on for the win against PSG on Sunday night – Gonçalo Ramos equalised from the penalty spot in stoppage time – but they had won their previous six league matches, surging from lower mid-table to within a few points of the European places. Continue reading...

Everyone in Paris – from PSG’s owners to France’s president – pandered to Mbappé. Now it’s time to build without him By Luke Entwistle for Get French Football News There has always been an inescapable feeling of transience about Kylian Mbappé’s time at Paris Saint-Germain – a stay that will be defined as much by his achievements on the pitch as the upheaval, pandering and politics that saw an 18-year-old teenager grow bigger than not just the club but the league. The Mbappé farewell tour began in Nantes on Saturday in an event that provided a glimpse of what is in store for the rest of the season. Fans packed into the Beaujoire, some insisting they had travelled for more than 100km just to see Mbappé. The France captain was cheered by the home crowd as he came off the bench on the hour mark in what was yet another demonstration of fame that transcends PSG. He scored a late penalty in a 2-0 win for the visitors. Continue reading...

Franck Haise’s side remain in contention for a seat at Europe’s top table after three consecutive wins in the league While the trio of Brest, Monaco and Nice are still firmly in the driver’s seat for France’s Champions League allocation, another more familiar contender may be entering the frame if the recent results of Lens are anything to go by. A comprehensive 3-1 home win over Strasbourg, their third in a row in the league, was impressive indeed, not only for how they expressed their solidity – as they had in previous wins over Nantes and Toulouse – but for their bravura performance in attack. In those previous wins Lens had kept clean sheets but there was something of the scrappy to their goals, and they seemed a far cry from the electric side that was consistently able to pour forward at will last year, running Paris Saint-Germain to within a point of the title. Continue reading...

Club reaches agreement with Willie McKay as it continues ‘search for truth’ about death of Argentinian Cardiff City have reached an out-of-court settlement with the agent Willie McKay in their pursuit of discovering the truth about Emiliano Sala’s death. Sala died on 21 January 2019 when the light aircraft he travelled in from France crashed into the Channel, two days after Cardiff had announced the signing of the Argentinian footballer from Nantes. Continue reading...

Live Afcon quarter-final updates from the 5pm GMT kick-offChaos to champions? | And email Luke with your thoughts 14 min: Osimhen takes a pass to feet, with nothing seemingly on, but injects some excitement with a slick lay-off that releases Sanusi down the Nigeria left. Initially the delivery is blocked, but the Super Eagles keep the attack going, and Osimhen eventually sends a looping header on to the roof of the net. The crowd roared with excitement when he got on the ball. 12 min: Simon, the winger who plays for Nantes in Ligue 1, is brought down by Dala, a fairly cynical challenge from the Angolan near the edge of the box. The referee has a word. Lookman stands over the set-piece and aims for a training-ground move with a short free-kick. It’s not a great one, though, and Angola can clear. Continue reading...