PSG return to domestic action with focus on Liverpool / Photo: Miguel MEDINA - AFP/File
PSG return to domestic action with focus on Liverpool
Paris Saint-Germain are focused on the impending showdown with Liverpool and the defence of their Champions League title as they return to domestic action this weekend against Toulouse.
The Ligue 1 game has been brought forward to Friday to give Luis Enrique's team extra time to prepare for their Champions League quarter-final against the Reds, the first leg of which takes place in Paris next Wednesday.
The sides will meet again at Anfield on April 14. PSG's potential French title showdown with nearest challengers Lens, originally set for April 11, was controversially postponed to allow them to rest in between the two legs against Liverpool.
The Lens game is now set to be played either between the last two weekends of the Ligue 1 campaign, if PSG beat Liverpool and reach the semi-finals, or during the first midweek in May should they go out of Europe.
The French league decision to grant PSG their wish by postponing that game says much about where the priorities lie for the Qatar-backed club. Retaining the Champions League is far more important than a fifth straight Ligue 1 crown, and a 12th in 14 years.
"I can understand that there are different viewpoints and I understand Lens, but we have to accept what has been decided," Luis Enrique said Thursday of the postponement, which upset their title rivals.
PSG go into this weekend a point clear of Lens at the summit. They have a game in hand on Lens, who have seven matches left, after last month's meeting with Nantes was called off as it fell between the two legs of their Champions League last-16 tie against Chelsea.
Beating Toulouse would therefore put Lens further up against it before they go to Lille for the northern derby on Saturday.
"It is never easy after an international break. These games can always catch you out," warned Luis Enrique, who will be without Fabian Ruiz against Toulouse as the Spanish midfielder continues his recovery from a knee injury.
PSG's squad features 16 of the 20 highest-paid players in France's top flight according to a report by sports daily L'Equipe on Thursday. They are overwhelming favourites to beat a Toulouse side who sit in mid-table.
The game will see a first in French football: the referee will be hooked up to a microphone which will allow fans in the stadium and watching at home to hear him explain any eventual VAR decisions.
The French league (LFP) said in a statement the trial would "increase transparency and understanding of refereeing decisions".
Player to watch: Florian Thauvin
A member of the France squad when they won the World Cup in 2018, Thauvin returned to his home country at the start of this season after four years abroad, in Mexico and Italy. Now 33, he has been outstanding for a Lens side who have surprisingly been PSG's closest title challengers.
They need a win in Saturday's derby at Lille, where Thauvin can expect a hostile reception -- he was signed by Lille in January 2013 as an exciting young prospect from Bastia, but left later that year having never played for the club as he pushed through a move to Marseille.
Key stats
6 - Monaco are Ligue 1's form team with six straight wins, and seven wins and two draws from nine games, before hosting Marseille
5 - Five points separate five teams in the fight for European places behind the breakaway top two, from Marseille in third to Rennes in seventh with Lyon, Lille and Monaco in between
15 - Bottom side Metz have not won in 15 before hosting Nantes, who are also in the relegation zone
Fixtures (times GMT)
Friday
Paris Saint-Germain v Toulouse (1845)
Saturday
Strasbourg v Nice (1500), Brest v Rennes (1700), Lille v Lens (1905)
Sunday
Angers v Lyon (1300), Le Havre v Auxerre, Lorient v Paris FC, Metz v Nantes (all 1515), Monaco v Marseille (1845)
P.Reed--CT
