Blanc's position strengthened as PSG reigns again

Paris Saint-Germain has underlined its dominance of the French scene, strengthening the position of coach Laurent Blanc, but the biggest challenge for the club remains to become truly competitive in Europe.

In Ligue 1, Blanc's side was pushed almost all the way by an exciting young Lyon team, eventually retaining the title with a game to spare on Saturday.

A third consecutive Ligue 1 crown keeps the team on course to win an unprecedented clean sweep of France's domestic trophies - with the season-opening Champions Trophy and the League Cup already in the bag, Paris is also overwhelming favorite to win the French Cup final against second-tier Auxerre on May 30.

The way in which it won the title, pulling away from Lyon thanks to a rampant run of eight straight wins, and its performance in the domestic cups, means Blanc deserves great credit.

He has shown himself capable of handling the big egos in his expensively-assembled squad, in particular for his temporary sidelining of Ezequiel Lavezzi and Edinson Cavani for their late returns from Christmas holidays, declaring "the end of certain privileges".

Blanc's stance, at a time when he was under pressure with Paris third in the table, three points behind leader Marseille at the season's halfway stage, was risky but it paid off, ensuring he should now stay on into the last year of his contract.

Meanwhile, the coach pinpointed the work done at a winter training camp in Morocco when asked why his team found such fine form in the run-in.

"I think at the start of 2015 everyone realized what was happening. The turning point was our winter training camp in Marrakech. That's when we got back on track," he told beIN Sports as PSG finally showed the gulf in class that exists between it and the rest of France.

"They are too strong for the French league. When they are really focused, when they have the desire, when they have a full-strength squad, they are unbeatable," said Nantes coach Michel Der Zakarian recently.

In Europe, however, it was a season of mixed fortunes as, for the third year running, Paris saw its Champions League hopes ended in the quarterfinals.

Although hindered by injuries and suspensions, a 5-1 aggregate loss to Barcelona was a reminder of just how far Paris still has to go before being a genuine contender to win that competition.

However, there is no disgrace in being outplayed by Barcelona, especially when you don't have a full-strength team - just ask Pep Guardiola and Bayern Munich.

Putting the defeat into perspective, Blanc said at the time: "We need to have patience to win the Champions League. Barca fans know that. It is a big club but it had patience to win the Champions League for the first time in 1992 after (nearly) 100 years."

In any case, a great leap forward was made in Europe with the defeat of Jose Mourinho's Chelsea on away goals in the last 16.

(China Daily 05/18/2015 page20)