PSG's 11th Ligue 1 title is historic. It just doesn't feel that way

The job is done. It has proven to be more stressful than anticipated but what many regarded as a foregone conclusion has belatedly been reached: Paris Saint-Germain are the champions of France for a record 11th time, courtesy of a rather underwhelming 1-1 draw away to Strasbourg.

This is a landmark moment.

French football has become accustomed to PSG title triumphs but this latest success puts that dominance on a new footing. No club in France has won as many league titles as them now. In the space of a decade, bankrolled by the state-backed wealth of Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), the capital-city club have gone from two titles to 11. They have nudged ahead of Saint-Etienne and rivals Marseille. Their supremacy is complete.

It is a seismic change in what is only a short period of time.

The first title of the QSI era, coincidentally, was exactly 10 years ago. That was a team coached by Carlo Ancelotti and featuring Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva, Blaise Matuidi and, briefly, David Beckham. Like this season, 2012-13 was a true landmark moment. Not only because the new owners had their first championship but it also ended PSG’s 19-year title drought. The long wait was over.

To celebrate that moment, tens of thousands of fans gathered at the Place du Trocadero, near the Eiffel Tower, awaiting a parade that never really happened. Chaos put paid to that. Ultras threw smoke bombs, some scaled scaffolding, while a tourist bus was looted. A planned ‘mini-cruise’ along the River Seine, featuring players with the trophy, had to be scrapped and the team ultimately spent about five minutes with their supporters before having to depart. There were clashes with police, injuries sustained and arrests made.

That day was a release of mixed emotions. There was sheer euphoria at ending almost two decades of waiting, but also considerable relief, particularly for QSI, after Montpellier pipped PSG to the title in their first season in charge. There was also pent-up frustration within that as well; the chaos in Paris was fueled by ultras’ anger at their exclusion from the club’s Parc des Princes stadium, the legacy of a policy by a former PSG president, Robin Leproux, in reaction to previous disorder.

While there have been tensions with the ultras this season, there has been nothing like that scale of unrest. But nor is there much hope of a euphoric celebration to greet this milestone moment in PSG history. For one thing, the club were banned from having title parades after the carnage of 2013, which also saw businesses and property damaged.

And then there is the sense that this isn’t a title that feels quite as good as it should.

That is partly to be expected. Ligue 1 triumphs have become routine under QSI: PSG have now won nine out of the 12 since their 2011 takeover. Yet it is also indicative of the strain of this season’s run-in. The captain, Marquinhos, summed that up neatly last Sunday away to Auxerre when he said that, while success was near, this was “not the best season”. Christophe Galtier, the head coach, was also not nominated for coach of the season by his peers.

Winning the Ligue 1 title is not necessarily enough on its own at PSG; with their budget, and their playing squad, that is almost a given. Their financial strength blows the domestic competition out of the water, and this year above all others, with Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Lionel Messi – their goalscorer against Strasbourg tonight – in attack, greatness was expected.

Kylian Mbappe goes on a run against Strasbourg (Photo: Patrick Hertzog/AFP via Getty Images)

“When you have these players — Leo, Kylian and Ney — the aim from the start of the season is to have them together for an attacking game with three incredible players,” said Galtier this month. “Unfortunately in this season, where a World Cup was placed in the middle, injuries, fatigue for certain players, and in particular Ney’s serious injury (the Brazilian hasn’t played since February), meant we could not take advantage of it throughout the season.

“It’s just what happened. Each time they (PSG’s three big names) have been on the pitch, they have performed very well and we had a very impressive attacking game. The regret is not having had this attacking trio in the decisive matches.”

An 11th title should be the apogee of an era but it does not feel like that.

Rather than a linear path of progression, there is a sense the PSG sporting project has lost its way, with talk now of a reset and a new direction. The contrast with the Premier League’s Manchester City, an unhappy bedfellow when it comes to Gulf state financial support, is a stark one.

City are on the cusp of a historic treble over the next few weeks, led by a manager in Pep Guardiola who has been in the job for seven years. In that time, PSG have had four managers, and Galtier is considered a near-certainty to depart this summer. Since reaching the 2019-20 Champions League final, PSG have taken steps backwards.

But this past decade has not been a complete drift — at least for the club’s Qatari owners.

This season was the climax of years of progress for Qatar, building to the point where the country staged the World Cup and, in Messi and Mbappe, also employed two of the tournament’s biggest stars. The final in December was a ‘PSG’ final, and the triumph, with Messi lifting the trophy after a gladiatorial face-off with club team-mate Mbappe that went all the way to penalties, was one of football’s most iconic moments.

This was Qatar’s time, and it can be seen as the culmination of what their investments have been building towards.

But for PSG’s fortunes, the tournament ripped their season in two. An electric build-up, with a 23-match unbeaten run, was powered by the promise of football’s showpiece event and the role of the club’s players in it. But once domestic action resumed just after Christmas, PSG were a different team, they have suffered nine defeats across all competitions in 2023, and have laboured to the title-race finish line with one game to go.

They will be glad to have reached it. The World Cup was the major turning point of this Ligue 1 season but there were other issues to navigate too.

Injuries mounted after Qatar, and they exposed some particularly poor squad building. This peaked in a timely manner for the Champions League last-16 meeting against Bayern Munich. Neymar, Mbappe, Marquinhos, Achraf Hakimi and Nordi Mukiele all picked up knocks at some point over the tie’s two legs, which contributed to their failure to hit the season’s primary objective.

Of course, using any knockout competition as the barometer of success, when they naturally require some element of fortune, will always warp expectations — but PSG’s lack of depth, particularly in defence, was ruthlessly exposed by Bayern.

Off the field, PSG have been beset by drama and intrigue.

That Champions League exit gave way to Mbappe’s ‘Kylian Saint-Germain’ marketing issue, before accusations of racism against Galtier — allegations he denies — at previous club Nice resurfaced. Messi then missed training to go to Saudi Arabia on a promotional trip, earning a club suspension, while there have been very prominent and angry protests by supporters, too.

The noise surrounding the team has been almost constant and that, coupled with everything else, means it is perhaps no huge surprise that performances have dipped.

In the end, though, PSG have managed to stumble through it.

Whether that’s an indictment of the quality gap to the rest of France’s clubs or a sign there is some resilience within their current team is a point to debate. But the title has been won, and it is historic. PSG are now Ligue 1’s most successful club. They have also held top spot from the very first gameweek, the first club to spend a whole season in first place in the French table. PSG have now been top of Ligue 1 since August 2021, amounting to 74 ‘match rounds’ — comfortably a new record.

Their points total is not a poor one either, although they will fall short of breaking 90 after being held by Strasbourg, whatever happens in next Saturday’s finale at home to Clermont. Lens, meanwhile, are on course for the second-highest runners-up total, if they win their remaining fixture (they would have 84 points, behind PSG’s 87 when finishing second to Monaco in 2016-17).

PSG’s squad may not have always felt like the perfect team, but their quality has told over the season. Now, it has elevated the club’s status permanently.

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There is no escaping the reality that the financial advantage brought by PSG’s ownership has lifted the club to this point of total dominance. It is because of that backing that the question of ‘Where next?’ is almost an existential one, particularly for a team where expectations are so high that confounding them is now impossible, at least in Ligue 1. It limits the emotional ceiling.

For supporters, rekindling that excitement of 10 years ago is unlikely anyway, but throw in the context of a turbulent season and it becomes difficult. “I understand the remarks, the criticisms, especially since we had defeats at home,” Galtier said on Friday. “Our matches have not always been good.”

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Maybe a Champions League final win would bring back those old emotions — if somehow PSG can get there again. But for now, there will be celebrations, a moment recognised as their time in the sun, but total dominance of French football will not be met with euphoria.

Instead, it will be a feeling of relief, and that mirrors a decade ago in more ways than one.

(Top photo: Jean-Christophe Verhaegen/AFP via Getty Images)