The Professional Football League has decided to postpone the Lens – PSG and Brest – Strasbourg matches, following the request of the Parisian and Alsatian clubs to have a weekend of rest between their first and second leg matches of the quarter-finals of the European Cup.
This decision is expected to cause controversy, but ultimately it is not surprising. The Lens – PSG and Brest – Strasbourg matches, scheduled for the 29th round of Ligue 1, will not take place on April 11th and 12th as planned, but on Wednesday, May 13th. The Professional Football League’s Board of Directors unanimously granted the request of the Parisian and Alsatian clubs, who did not want to play on the weekend between their European Cup matches.
The postponement of the Lens – PSG match is likely to be the most controversial. Both clubs are neck and neck in the race for the French championship title, and Lens had hoped to host PSG between their two matches against Liverpool, in order to make a significant impact. Lens currently trails PSG by one point, but PSG has one more match to play against Nantes on April 22nd, a match that was previously postponed because PSG played their eighth final against Chelsea just a week before. The leaders of the Lens club, unlike Nantes, were against the idea of a postponement and made their strong opposition known in a statement released on Monday night, arguing that RCL should not have to play three matches in the same week later in the season to favor PSG’s chances in the European Cup. PSG argued that France’s fifth place in the UEFA index, which allows them to have three automatic qualifications for the Champions League plus one in the playoffs, was at risk and it was essential to support French clubs in Europe.
Racing will play its first European Cup quarter-final in 46 years against Mainz in the Conference League. This is an obviously crucial match, which is why they requested the postponement of their match against Brest. The two teams seem to have little left to play for in this Ligue 1 season (Strasbourg is 8th with a six-point gap to 6th place, Brest is 11th with a 14-point lead over the playoff spot), and unlike Lens, the Breton club did not express an official opinion on the matter. As Strasbourg is also engaged in the semi-finals of the French Cup, they could not play this match on April 22nd at the same time as PSG – Nantes. “These two decisions come with a proposal made to RC Lens to rearrange their schedule to move the RC Lens-FC Nantes match (33rd round) to Friday, May 8th in case Paris Saint-Germain qualifies for the UEFA Champions League semi-finals,” concludes the LFP in its statement.
