PSG on brink of another title but but dark clouds hang over Parc des Princes

"We have a hand on the trophy,” observed Marquinhos, captain of Paris Saint-Germain, a 2-1 victory in Auxerre having steered France’s defending champions to within a point of retaining their Ligue 1 title.

Has that hand really ever been far from French football’s main domestic prize? PSG have stood in first place in the table after every match day this season.

This imminent title, all but sealed on Sunday given their goal-difference advantage along with their six-point clearance over chasing Lens with two fixtures left, will be the club’s ninth in the past 11 seasons.

Such a regular procession makes the dominance of France’s sole financial superclub over compatriots seem routine. In this odd, World Cup-interrupted season, perhaps it should not.

After all, other major leagues have seen patterns change, Napoli claiming the Italian title after 33 years without it, Real Madrid dethroned in Spain with fully four matches to spare, Bayern Munich on course to lose their Bundesliga Shield after a decade in possession.

Yet in Paris, there is genuine uncertainty, even trepidation about how exuberantly the 2023 French championship will be celebrated when Marquinhos lifts the trophy in front of a home crowd next month at the Parc des Princes.

The joy of retaining a title partly hinges on what promises it carries for the future. On the same weekend that Kylian Mbappe’s two handsome early goals at Auxerre tightened a familiar PSG grip on the Ligue 1 trophy, Manchester City were presenting their latest Premier League to supporters at the Etihad stadium.

It is five titles in six years for City, a comparable run of domestic superiority in England to PSG’s in France, but with a very different vibe.

There was some high-spirited unruliness