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The title race is on in France: Can PSG finally unseat Lyon?

Photo: PSG Feminines

Paris Saint-Germain fans could have been forgiven for doubting the result right up until the final whistle. Never mind that Lyon had barely threatened, that the biggest scoring threats were not on the field, that PSG had never looked out of control. Game after game, year after year, PSG fans have watched as Lyon somehow, always emerges victorious.

But not this time.  On Friday night, PSG handed their longstanding rivals a 1-0 defeat, ending Lyon’s 80-game unbeaten run in D1 Féminine, a streak dating back to December 2016. In doing so, PSG surged to the top of the table in France, putting themselves in the drivers’ seat for France’s domestic league title with two games to go before the winter break.

For years, PSG has dreamt of ending Lyon’s stranglehold on the D1F trophy. The Parisians have finished as runners-up in the league in seven of the last eight seasons, on top of losses to OL in three Coupe de France finals, the inaugural Trophée des Championnes, and the 2017 Champions League final over that same period.

On Friday, though, it was PSG singing victory songs in the locker room of a deserted Parc des Princes, dreaming of a coronation to come at the end of the season, while Lyon’s players were left to lament a missed opportunity to put the title race to bed by Christmas.

Is this the year D1F finally crowns the new queens of France?

Ici C’est Paris

If you are ready to jump on board the PSG bandwagon, there are plenty of reasons for optimism. Here are three reasons to believe the trophy is coming back to the French capital this season.

The performance

PSG has frustrated Lyon before, but not like they did on Friday. In prior seasons, it has taken a superhuman performance from goalkeeper Cristiane Endler or some dubious officiating for Paris to force a draw, and OL fans are still fuming over the imaginary foul that wiped Lyon’s last-minute equalizer off the board in the 2018 Coupe de France—the only prior time PSG has edged Lyon for a trophy.

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