da stake casino： Things change in football, but we often think we know what’s going to happen in advance. Usually we aren’t wrong, but we do seem to forget that sport is competitive and never bows to foregone conclusions.
da heads bet： Maybe it’s inevitable that money breeds power, and maybe it’s inevitable that the clubs with the most tend to snub the competitions where they face those with the least. The importance of other competitions weakens the resolve to try hard in domestic cup competitions, and that in turn weakens the competitions themselves.
This midweek in France, the Coupe de France reaches its last 16 stage. And whilst Marseille face Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain play Rennes, there is one fairytale tie to look out for: Monaco travel north to play third tier Chambly.
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It’s another one of those occasions where we think we know what’s going to happen, and when it doesn’t, we put it down to cup magic. But in France, as with every other country these days, league concerns take priority for the haves over the have-nots.
But it’s Ligue 1 clubs – and Monaco in particular – who should know better than anyone else this season that the gap between the richest clubs and the rest may not be so telling. With Nice and Monaco currently leading the way from PSG at the top of the table, it’s clear that we shouldn’t take for granted that the biggest and richest side is going to won.
Ok, so Monaco and Nice are hardly poor by Ligue 1 standards. Monaco and Lyon would be PSG’s closest rivals, financially, whilst Nice are on a solid financial foothold and have a lovely new stadium thanks to Euro 2016. But PSG are, these days, a king amongst paupers, and if Monaco are their closest rivals, they are still subjects of the serfdom rather than members of the nobility.
The pitch is the one place where money can’t talk. It can better equip teams like PSG to win the majority of their games, but if their record against the smaller teams is matched by Monaco, then the title will be decided by the games between the top two.
And that’s why Sunday night’s game was so important. Because it proves that theory. Up until now, the title was in everyone’s hands. In order to win, you had to rely only on your own abilities and your own games. Now that’s changed. Monaco and PSG have played each other twice and Leonardo Jardim’s side are still three points ahead. The title will now be decided by Monaco, not Paris.
If Unai Emery meets his minimum requirement this season by meeting Ligue 1, it will be because Monaco have slipped up, not because his side have won it for themselves.
Now, that’s an impossibly high bar. Monaco will be more than worthy champions if they go through the rest of the season dropping only two points, and PSG worthy champions if they manage to win every game from here on in.
The significance lies not in the fact that Monaco are ahead, but because the theory works: Ligue 1 doesn’t need another team to rival the power and might of PSG in order to become more competitive and interesting. It only needs a team slightly better than the smaller sides who can match PSG through the season and possibly topple them in two games at very different points in the season. It just needs a team with some spirit.
Sometimes we forget that sport doesn’t deal in foregone conclusions.
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