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There was no change at the top of Ligue 1 in 2007-08 as Alain Perrin’s Lyon side continued their utter dominance of the French championship with their seventh league title in a row, holding off a resurgent Bordeaux side who ultimately finished four points adrift.
Lyon, who also won the Coupe de France to mark an impressive double, were powered by the goals of Karim Benzema, whose season total of 20 was enough to claim the top scorer award.
At the other end, Paris Saint-Germain avoided relegation but picked up a European spot by virtue of their Coupe de la Ligue victory whilst surprise package AS Nancy Lorraine were pipped to the Champions League by Marseille.
Two of French football’s most frenzied fanbases – RC Lens and RC Strasbourg suffered relegation.
CHANGES
It was one of the most talked about transfer windows in France for a while. A cycle had come to an end for all-conquering Lyon, who saw several key players depart for pastures new. Eric Abidal left for FC Barcelona, while France international Florent Malouda left for Chelsea. Sylvain Wiltord moved to Rennes, with Tiago also swapping Stade Gerland for Juventus. In came Mathieu Bodmer, Kader Keita and World Cup winner Fabio Grosso.
Marseille also saw a key player depart. Franck Ribery, who starred in the previous year’s World Cup was sold to Bayern Munich for a Bundesliga record 26 million euros. OM strengthened considerably with that windfall, signing no less than 7 players – led by Djibril Cisse and a then-unknown Steve Mandanda.
Nancy did not sign one player in the summer window – with their existing crop of players going on to claim a spot in the UEFA Cup the following summer.
In the dugouts, Bordeaux offered a first chance in management to Laurent Blanc, while seven others changed managers in the close season.
SEASON SUMMARY
The season had largely followed the template of recent years – i.e. a couple of pretenders exchanging the lead of the championship for a few weeks, before Lyon settled into their…
Source link : https://www.footballcritic.com/season-reviews/lyon-in-seventh-heaven-as-les-gones-hold-off-bordeaux-ligue-1-in-2007-08/798
Author : [email protected] (Martin Macdonald)
Publish date : 2024-07-22 13:00:00
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