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This week we take a look at France’s Ligue 1. You can listen to the report by clicking above while vocabulary support can be found for the words in bold at the foot of the post.

Background

There are 20 teams in Ligue 1 and the current title holders are Bordeaux, who halted Olympique Lyonnais’ record run of seven straight titles victories last year. Every year, three teams are relegated and three promoted, and this year Lens, Montpellier and Boulogne replaced Caen, Nantes and le Havre.

The contenders

Currently, there are six teams withing three points of each other at the top of Ligue 1, making the run-in to the season a very exciting one. Champions, Bordeaux are in pole position on 53 points and a game in hand over their rivals. But the club from the south west of France have only managed to pick up one win in six games and have lost momentum. A team with momentum is Auxerre in third place on 51 points with five wins in six, including a win over leaders Bordeaux. they sit one point behind surprise package Montpellier, newly relegated and impressing everyone with their confident attacking style. can they overhaul Bordeaux and stop the Champions adding to their six titles, or will they fade and let more established clubs like Lyon and Marseilles in fifth and sixth respectively contest for the title? last year’s fourth place finishers Lille sit in fourth place at this stage of the season on 51 points and have been solid performers in recent seasons and will be hoping to qualify for the Champions League at least this season.

At the bottom

At the foot of the table it looks a lot clearer. Grenoble, just south east of Lyon and St Etienne, look doomed to go down. They have just 14 points, 15 points from safety. And probably joining them will be Le Mans on 21 points, and Boulogne on 20. Le mans may hold out some hope that St Etienne, 7 points ahead of them will slip up again and drop further and that the team from the centre of France can win its game in hand to further close the gap, but it doesn’t look promising. These three teams will most likely be playing in Ligue 2 next season.

Europe

This season has been a good one for French clubs, but not outstanding. They have two representatives left in the Champions League quarter final stages – Lyon and Bordeaux. Lyon of course stunned European giants Real Madrid 2-1 on aggregate showing that money doesn’t always buy success, and they shouldn’t fear anyone. However, history says bet against them progressing as they’ve appeared 11 times in the Champions League but have never got further than the quarter final stage. Bordeaux booked their place in the last eight with a 3-1 aggregate win over Olympiacos. On paper, not as impressive as Lyon’s victory, but like Lyon, they won both legs of the tie. Their one worry could be losing focus in the league by concentrating on Europe. While the two clubs have done well to get this far, I don’t expect them to make it through to the semi finals.

In the Europa League things were looking quite good until this week when Ligue 1’s last representatives, Lille and Marseille were knocked out by Liverpool and Benfica respectively.

So overall better than last year, but only a semi-final place in the Champions League would really make people sit up and take note. And whose going to win the league? For football romantics, a Montpellier win would be great, but I think it will be back to back wins for Bordeaux.

Vocabulary

current: at the present time, reigning

the run in: the final stretch, the last part, nearly the end

surprise package: an unexpectedly strong team

solid performers: consistent, not outstanding/fantastic, but regularly good

slip up: make a mistake, fail

book a place: win in a competition so that you go through to the next round

sit up and take note: take seriously, be interested in