Paris Saint-Germain clinched their ninth Ligue 1 title in 11 years on Saturday evening to continue their dominance of French football, but there is a growing sense that major changes are needed and a rebuild is imminent.
A 1-1 draw at Strasbourg was enough for PSG to retain the trophy with one round to spare, despite the late season pressure from second-placed Lens, who defeated Ajaccio 3-0 at home.
"It has not been our best season but it has still been a good one," PSG captain Marquinhos recently said.
It was, in fact, shaping up to be more than just a "good" season when PSG began the campaign in fine form. They were unbeaten in all competitions until the mid-season break for the Qatar World Cup as the famed front three of Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi, and Neymar appeared driven to guide PSG to an elusive first Champions League title. In all, PSG lost six games in 2023.
Yet the unravelling that followed was dramatic. After defeat to Lens in their second Ligue 1 match upon returning from the World Cup break, PSG began to stutter, including a Round of 16 defeat to Bayern Munich for another year of Champions League disappointment.
Neymar was again cut down by injury before Messi was suspended for missing training after taking an unauthorised trip to Saudi Arabia.
Messi scored the goal against Strasbourg, his 496th career league goal in Europe to break Cristiano Ronaldo's scoring record for Europe's top five leagues, but PSG fans have made it clear they want the Argentine superstar to leave. He has even been booed on several occasions by his own supporters.
The mood around the club in recent weeks has appeared sullen, with fans disaffected.
"When we take stock, we need to analyse the first half of the season and what state the players were in when they came back from the World Cup," PSG manager Christophe Galtier said on Friday. "But I understand the disappointment. It has been a very strange season."
Strasbourg v PSG - match gallery
The coaching job has at times seemed too big for Galtier, who arrived last year in the wake of Mbappe's decision to snub Real Madrid and sign a new three-year contract.
Mbappe – scorer of 40 goals this season – might wonder now if he made the right choice, although the question of his future is bound to come up again soon. According to reports, the 24-year-old forward's contract will run out next year unless he exercises an option to stay until 2025.
However, PSG must now seek to rebuild with Mbappe the focal point more than ever. The ageing and out-of-contract Messi is expected to depart and the physically frail Neymar, now 31, is fading as a force.
All eyes will be on what Luis Campos, PSG's Portuguese recruitment guru, does in the transfer market.
He is restrained by Uefa's Financial Fair Play rules and by the fact that PSG have an array of unwanted players on big contracts who are set to return after a season on loan. The saving on Messi's annual salary of an estimated €30 million ($32.5m) net would provide some leeway.
Much has been made of the willingness to focus on younger players hailing from the Paris region, a prolific breeding ground for talent.
This, after all, is a club who have been stung by the decision to let so many prospects leave in recent years, from Kingsley Coman and Adrien Rabiot to Moussa Diaby, Christopher Nkunku and Mike Maignan.
The primary target is the Champions League, in which PSG have gone out in the first knockout stage five times in seven seasons, regularly coming up short at the crucial moment.
"Lots of teams want to go all the way but only one can do so," said Galtier. "To win the Champions League, or to give yourself a chance, you need to be on form in February and March and we were not."
PSG have been here before, and Nasser Al Khelaifi, club president since the Qatari takeover of 2011, surely cannot afford to get another rebuild wrong.
The club's owners continue to be thwarted in their attempts to buy the Parc des Princes from the city of Paris so they can expand capacity, raising the possibility of a move to the larger Stade de France.
All of which means some uncertainty about what lies ahead, although Galtier at least knows his future is likely elsewhere.
A new coach capable of commanding the dressing room's respect is required, and Jose Mourinho and Luis Enrique have been linked with the job.
With PSG having failed to progress in two years with Messi, it remains to be seen if the latest rebuild succeeds where past attempts have failed.
Juliet, Naked
Dir: Jesse Peretz
Starring: Chris O'Dowd, Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke
Two stars
Book%20Details
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THREE
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Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance: the specs
Engine: 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 plus rear-mounted electric motor
Power: 843hp at N/A rpm
Torque: 1470Nm N/A rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.6L/100km
On sale: October to December
Price: From Dh875,000 (estimate)
Manchester United's summer dealings
In
Victor Lindelof (Benfica) £30.7 million
Romelu Lukaku (Everton) £75 million
Nemanja Matic (Chelsea) £40 million
Out
Zlatan Ibrahimovic Released
Wayne Rooney (Everton) Free transfer
Adnan Januzaj (Real Sociedad) £9.8 million
The specs: 2019 Subaru Forester
Price, base: Dh105,900 (Premium); Dh115,900 (Sport)
Engine: 2.5-litre four-cylinder
Transmission: Continuously variable transmission
Power: 182hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 239Nm @ 4,400rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.1L / 100km (estimated)
Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
'Shakuntala Devi'
Starring: Vidya Balan, Sanya Malhotra
Director: Anu Menon
Rating: Three out of five stars
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BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Sinopharm vaccine explained
The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades.
“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated," said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE's National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.
"What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live."
This is then injected into the body.
"The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose," she said.
"You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen."
The vaccine should offer protection for at least months, but no one knows how long beyond that.
Dr Al Kaabi said early vaccine volunteers in China were given shots last spring and still have antibodies today.
“Since it is inactivated, it will not last forever," she said.
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Related
How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
Analysis
Maros Sefcovic is juggling multiple international trade agreement files, but his message was clear when he spoke to The National on Wednesday.
The EU-UAE bilateral trade deal will be finalised soon, he said. It is in everyone’s interests to do so. Both sides want to move quickly and are in alignment. He said the UAE is a very important partner for the EU. It’s full speed ahead - and with some lofty ambitions - on the road to a free trade agreement.
We also talked about US-EU tariffs. He answered that both sides need to talk more and more often, but he is prepared to defend Europe's position and said diplomacy should be a guiding principle through the current moment.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani