Paris Saint-Germain v Toulouse match preview

By: j | March 21st, 2009

With the top spot of Ligue 1 up for grabs, Paris Saint-Germain travel south-west to face Toulouse Sunday evening. For the Parisians the remarkable campaign that started with an eye towards honour and restoring pride for la Ville-Lumière’s team has turned to thoughts of hoisting trophies. On the European front although les Rouge et Bleu did not prioritize competition they find themselves in the quarter-finals UEFA Cup and without question domestically the Championnat will come down the final ten weeks.

Paul Le Guen, could certainly be found guilty of understating the obviously as he noted Sunday evening’s match as “incredibly important.” While stating the obvious this match could very well decide the Parisians fate but further one of the most exciting stories in football this year, that being Toulouse. While rarely discussed outside of France, Toulouse barely avoided relegation last year under Élie Baup but have responded with Alain Casanova’s leadership and are only three points from the top spot.

In continuing his commentary of the match Paul Le Guen noted Toulouse’s qualities:

“They are very well organised and full of confidence, like their striker André-Pierre Gignac. Physically, they are very impressive. They are very strong and can really dominate their opponents. In the first match this year, that we lost 1-0, I saw that they had the potential to do something special this season.”

For the match Paris Saint-Germaine are with Zoumana Camara who is suspended and Mamadou Sakho’s inclusion will be decided in a pre-match fitness test. Depending upon the outcome Sylvain Armand and Sammy Traoré will pair in the central defending group and attempt to put a damper on the home sides brilliant young striker André-Pierre Gignac who just earned his first cap for Les Bleus.

Enjoy the match and as always I will report on it as it concludes.