The third round of Ligue 1 begins this Friday evening with leaders Monaco traveling to Nantes. The next day, Marseille and Paris will receive Brest and Lens respectively with the ambition of returning to victory.
[Updated August 25, 9:42 AM] After two days of Ligue 1, only two teams can claim to have known nothing but victory: Monaco and Brest. It’s not much and it is quite possible that it will be reduced at the end of the weekend.
The Monegasques, spectacular winners of Clermont (2-4) and Strasbourg (3-0), will undoubtedly not have the easy part in Nantes at the start of the third day this Friday evening (9 p.m.). Not because Nantes are impressing at the start of the season, not at all, but precisely because after two defeats, conceded against Toulouse (1-2) and Lille (2-0), there is already urgency. Pierre Aristouy’s men, whose position on the bench is rather uncomfortable, have every interest in reacting in front of their loyal supporters so as not to worsen their situation.
If the Monegasque leader of Ligue 1 expects a delicate meeting, the other club with six points, Stade Brestois is aware that achieving the pass of three will be very complicated. And for good reason, the Bretons are expected at the Vélodrome stadium on Saturday evening (7 p.m.) after the meeting was postponed by two hours due to the heat wave.
Victorious in Le Havre (1-2) last week after dropping Lens on the opening day (3-2), Brest will have to face a revengeful Marseille team. Eliminated from the Champions League by the Greek club Panathinaikos even before the start of serious things, then held in check in Metz (2-2), the partners of Valentin Rongier come out of a difficult week. The reception of Brestois is a great opportunity for OM, sixth after two days, to relaunch a dynamic.
In Paris, it would rather be a question of launching it altogether. After a very turbulent summer behind the scenes, marked by the departures of Lionel Messi and Neymar while perhaps waiting for that of Marco Verratti, the champions of France are slow to start the machine. Held in check by Lorient (0-0) and Toulouse (1-1) last weekend despite the return of Kylian Mbappe – the Parisian striker came into play at the start of the second half before scoring from the penalty spot – the Parisians do not even appear in the first half of the table (11th).
Suffice to say that their performance against Lens on Saturday evening (9 p.m.) in a duel between the two best teams of the last exercise will be closely scrutinized. Spanish coach Luis Enrique, who arrived during the offseason to succeed Christophe Galtier, should also line up Kyllian Mbappe for the big weekend. The six other matches will take place on Sunday, with in particular Rennes-Le Havre at the very beginning of the afternoon (1 p.m.), and Nice-Lyon to close the day (8:45 p.m.). The two teams, whose objective is to join the fight for European places, have not started their championship well.
The Niçois, admittedly undefeated, have still not won after sharing the points with Lille (1-1) and Lorient (1-1). But the situation is much more critical for OL. With two defeats already, including a crushing one against Montpellier in front of their public last Saturday (1-4), the Lyonnais could sink in the event of a new negative result at the Allianz Riviera. And the absence of their striker and captain Alexandre Lacazette, suspended after his red card received last weekend, does not really bode well.
Here is the schedule for the Ligue 1 day to follow at the moment. The results are updated as the matches progress:
The calendar for the new Ligue 1 season was unveiled on Thursday June 29 with 34 dates due to the increase from 20 to 18 clubs. The 1st day took place on the weekend of August 12 and 13, 2023 and the 34th and last will take place on Saturday May 18, 2024 with a multiplex.
Download the Ligue 1 2023/2024 calendar
Discover at the end of each day of the championship, the updated Ligue 1 Uber Eats ranking:
For this 2023-2024 season, Amazon Prime has obtained 80% of the TV rights for the French Ligue 1 football championship. The new broadcaster covers 8 matches per day: the Friday evening match (9 p.m.), the Saturday match after – noon (5 p.m.), the Sunday multiplex (3 p.m.), the Sunday evening match (8:45 p.m.) and the Sunday noon meeting (1 p.m.). Amazon has also created a special channel: Pass Ligue 1.
It is Canal which broadcasts the other two matches of each day at the start of the season: the Saturday evening match (9 p.m.) and the Sunday match at 5 p.m.
