PSG embrace joy of 12th title with trip to Dortmund for Champions League semi

Soon after winning his near six-hour final against Rafael Nadal at the 2012 Australian Open, Novak Djokovic famously savoured a tiny chunk of chocolate as part of his celebrations. Paris Saint-Germain's players are likely to be as circumspect after clinching the 2024 Ligue 1 crown: on Wednesday night they play in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final at Borussia Dortmund.

PSG's domestic coronation came on Sunday night after Monaco – the only team that could stop them – lost at Lyon.

The defeat not only provided PSG with a record 12th top flight title but it also injected a tad more intrigue into the race for second and third – the positions that lead to the group stages of next season's Champions League.

With three games and nine points available, Monaco lead the way with 58 points. Brest are third on 56 points and Lille are fourth with 55.

At the top of the food chain reside PSG. The Ligue 1 crown added to the French Super Cup, Luis Enrique's men can complete a domestic treble when they take on Lyon in the final of the Coupe de France on 25 May.

By then they should know if they will be gracing the Champions League final at Wembley on 1 June.

Triumph

"Winning the league is fantastic," said PSG president Nasser al-Khelaïfi soon after Monaco's demise.

"But winning Ligue 1 for the 12th time is even more special for everyone connected with Paris Saint-Germain."

Before Qatar Sports Investments took over control of PSG in 2011 and installed al-Khelaifi as PSG supremo, PSG had won two top flight titles in their 40 years of existence.

The first came in 1986 and the second in 1994. Ten have been harvested in 12 years along with 22 other pieces of domestic silverware.

But the PSG trophy cabinet yearns for the gleam of the Champions League crown. The club's one and only trip to the final ended in defeat in 2020 when Bayern Munich beat them 1-0.

Under Mauricio Pochettino, PSG reached the semi-final the following year but there were ignominious last-16 exits the following two seasons.

Surge

Enrique, who steered Barcelona to the Champions League in 2015, has at least eclipsed Pochettino's replacement Christophe Galtier with the present surge to the last four.

The 53-year-old Spaniard raised eyebrows at the start of the Champions League campaign when he said that it was unhealthy to be obsessed by the competition. So many of Enrique's predecessors had vowed to bring European club football's most prestigious prize back to the Parc des Princes.

But how the side have flourished in the chill-out zone. In the second leg of their last eight tie in Barcelona, the hosts led PSG 4-2 on aggregate  but Enrique's men dug in and – aided by Barcelona's spectacular indiscipline – fought back and prevailed 6-4 on aggregate.

Kylian Mbappé, who had been notably feeble in the first leg, bagged a brace to lead the revival.

And at the business end of the 2023/24 season, PSG are half way to a quadruple that would give them bragging rights par excellence over all of their French rivals.

Triumph

And the feat would vindicate the decision to ditch Galtier and draft in Enrique last July. But even if the quest for four does ultimately fail, Enrique has displayed enough steel and guile to prepare the ground for more triumphs.

The Spaniard maintained his poise at the start of his reign as the squad was shorn of star players such as Neymar, Lionel Messi and Marco Verratti.

Their replacements, individually less talented, but collectively more amenable have bonded into a team able to show resilience and grit.

Enrique has also started his planning for PSG after Mbappé's expected move to Real Madrid.

He has left the France skipper on the bench seven times this season in an effort to manage the striker's playing time and to test his options for next season.

The ploy has paid dividends. Mbappé is on course to win the Ligue 1 "golden boot" with 26 goals — nine more than Lille's Jonathan David.

Battle

And it's not just in the Champions League that the team can fight. On Saturday night at the Parc des Princes, a straightforward cruise against relegation-threatened Le Havre was expected for PSG to claim the title in front of their adoring fans.

But they botched their lines. Le Havre led 3-1 but Gonçalo Ramos set up one goal and scored in stoppage-time to level proceedings at 3-3.

PSG's record after 31 games stands at won 20, drawn 10, lost one. 

“I wouldn't have imagined this scenario going as positively as this,” said Enrique of his championship-winning squad.

But perhaps it was modesty. 
Renowned for his tactical flexibility at Barcelona, Enrique has shown the same canniness in the French capital.

PSG has played with both a back four and a back three this season, and switched from using a lone striker in some games to two strikers in others. Those variations have helped Enrique to rotate the players and experiment.

“In order to be able to compete for every trophy, you need a really big squad of at least 23 players," said Enrique.

"That is what we need here and as the season has progressed, we have seen the importance of those players,” Enrique said.

Bars of chocolate all round.