During the international break, Goal is reveling their best teams from the top leagues around Europe. Today, they revealed their Ligue 1 “Team of the Decade.”
Our Ligue 1 Team of the Decade 🇫🇷
What would you change? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/YaQSS3L0Pf
— Goal (@goal) October 11, 2019
Paris Saint-Germain is well-represented as you would imagine. Since 2009, the capital club has won the French league six of the last 10 seasons.
The entire front line of Goal’s Ligue 1 team is either current or former PSG players. Edinson Cavani, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Kylian Mbappé lead the attack. One notable absence is Neymar Jr. who arrived in Paris in 2017. Not only did the Brazilian not make this team but he was also left out of Goal’s La Liga “Team of the Decade.” I can’t say I agree with either one of those decisions. Other players left out include Alexandre Lacazette, Falcao, Eden Hazard, Bernardo Silva, and Nicolas Pépé. As much as it pains me to say, but Olympique de Marseille’s Dimitri Payet should be considered as well.
In the midfield is Blaise Matuidi, Nabil Fekir, and Marco Verratti. It’s hard to argue with those options but as good as he was in Ligue 1 for PSG, Matuidi is the one who I would take out. Tanguy Ndombele and Fabinho immediately come to mind as players I personally would have rather had over Matuidi. You could also argue for another PSG midfielder, Javier Pastore in this spot.
Nearly the entire backline is made up of PSG players. Maxwell at left-back, Thiago Silva and Marquinhos at center-back, and former Olympique Lyonnais right-back and current Amiens SC defender Christophe Jallet make the list. PSG hasn’t had a great right-back in recent memory so there’s no surprise seeing Jallet get the nod. The other three are pretty solid too. There has been a lot of promising defenders come up through Ligue 1 but none that surpass the four chosen here. I wouldn’t have minded Vitorino Hilton being named just because of his longevity. The 42-year-old is still getting it done for Montpellier HSC where he’s been since 2011 after playing for Marseille and RC Lens.
In goal is Steve Mandanda from Marseille. I don’t know if he would have been my choice. I actually think Anthony Lopes from Lyon would be the better choice here. PSG, unfortunately, has never really had a star at the goalkeeper position. Keylor Navas arrived this season but it’s obviously too early to include him in a list like this.
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