Rebooted Paris Saint-Germain count down to ecstasy on three fronts
What does it say about the essence of a football championship when a team can lose the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Marco Verratti and still be 12 points clear with seven games remaining?
France's Ligue 1 and Paris Saint-Germain are respectively those beings. And as Luis Enrique's side prepare to entertain Clermont on Saturday night at the Parc des Princes, highly paid executives at the club must be fearing for their jobs after lustily pursuing such big names.
The departure of such star players, coupled with Enrique's arrival in July, has saved the club squillions in wages and resulted in much the same thing. Domestic dominance.
And after a few struggles – teething troubles as Enrique described them as his squad tried to assimilate his methods – PSG have pulled away in Ligue 1.
A breeze past Toulouse in January brought them the French Super Cup and barring a catastrophic meltdown, a record-extending 12th top flight crown should be secured within a fortnight or so.
The Coupe de France final will be Lyon's opportunity to hoist a first piece of silverware since 2012. No such penury for PSG who under their Qatari backers have harvested 31 trophies during Lyon's drought.
Glory
Clermont, who prop up the division with 20 points from 27 games, appear doomed.
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