{"id":379415,"date":"2019-03-09T17:55:21","date_gmt":"2019-03-09T22:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonfootball.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=379415"},"modified":"2019-03-09T17:55:21","modified_gmt":"2019-03-09T22:55:21","slug":"rennes-beat-arsenal-how-good-ligue-1-really","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2019\/03\/09\/rennes-beat-arsenal-how-good-ligue-1-really\/","title":{"rendered":"Stade Rennes Beat Arsenal, so How Good Is Ligue 1 Really?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Thursday, Stade Rennes beat Arsenal<\/a> 3-1 making a statement to the rest of the world. Ligue 1 has always been known as a farmer\u2019s league to internet trolls around the world. But is that really the case?<\/p>\n

How Good Is Ligue 1?<\/h1>\n

The French league has always produced world class players and is being marketed by BT Sport as \u201cthe league of talents.\u201d Players such as Ousmane Dembele<\/a>, Kylian Mbappe<\/a> and Eden Hazard<\/a> have all come from Ligue 1. This year\u2019s group of talented youngsters is no different with transfer stories emerging surrounding Nicolas Pepe<\/a>, Tanguy Ndombele<\/a> and Ferland Mendy<\/a> all being linked with big clubs across Europe.<\/p>\n

How to Measure Top Leagues<\/h2>\n

Two things a league can be measured on are competitiveness and ability. Obviously, Ligue 1 isn\u2019t the most competitive. Paris Saint-Germain<\/a>\u00a0are leading the league by a landslide with 17 points and a game in hand over second-placed Lille. But if you look at the ability of the clubs in the top half of the table. You\u2019d be surprised how strong the clubs are and how they perform.<\/p>\n

How Have Ligue 1 Clubs Performed in Europe This Year?<\/h2>\n

Apart from PSG\u2019s horrendous collapse against<\/a> Manchester United<\/a> last week, they\u2019ve performed well against Europe\u2019s top clubs. Topping a group containing Liverpool<\/a> and Napoli this season, and last season topping a group that contained Bayern Munich<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lyon this season beat Manchester City<\/a> once and now have a huge match at the Camp Nou Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n

As for Stade Rennais, in the round of 32 of the Europa league, they knocked out Real Betis in a thrilling 6-4 aggregate win. They have also just beaten Arsenal in a huge 3-1 victory and now go to the Emirates with a real chance to go through to the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

These are teams are first, third and tenth in the French league. But let\u2019s look at the teams placed fourth and sixteenth, Marseille and Monaco respectively. Marseille started the season in the Europa league with hope to qualify to the next round. But with an awful showing, we saw them finish fourth in the group behind Cyprian team Apollon Limassol.<\/p>\n

As for Monaco, we saw them finish their Champions league run end in the group stages as they too finished fourth behind Club Brugge.<\/p>\n

The French league is most probably fighting to be the fourth-placed league alongside the Bundesliga. With mixed results in Europe, mainly down to smaller clubs losing their talent, this season looks to be another mixed run in Europe for the French clubs, with Rennes and Lyon being their only hopes remaining. But don\u2019t get this mistaken, the French league is no farmers league and teams should not be taken lightly.<\/p>\n

Main Photo
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>