Ligue1.com looks back at the highlights of 2021, from Lille to Lionel Messi:
Lille win the title
It was first and foremost Lille’s year. LOSC were crowned champions for the fourth time in their history, a decade on from their last title. It was a remarkable achievement, as Christophe Galtier’s team pipped the mighty Paris Saint-Germain to take the crown, clinching the championship on the final day with a 2-1 win at Angers SCO secured thanks to goals from their two star strikers, Burak Yilmaz and Jonathan David.
Given PSG’s huge financial advantage, it was a triumph against the odds for Lille, who survived the turbulence of a mid-season takeover amid the burden of big debts to finish a point ahead of PSG. Les Dogues were beaten just three times in the whole of 2020/21, had the best defensive record with just 23 goals conceded, and had the outstanding coach in the league in Galtier.
Lille were just the third team to deny PSG the title since the Qatari takeover of the capital club in 2011, following in the footsteps of Montpellier Hérault SC in 2012 and AS Monaco in 2017. Maintaining that success was always going to be a huge ask, especially as Galtier departed for OGC Nice in the summer. However, successor Jocelyn Gourvennec did lead them to victory over PSG in the Trophée des Champions and has taken the northerners to the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League, so there is plenty more for Lille fans to look forward to in 2022.
Watch: LIlle crowned champions
An epic battle between Monaco and Lyon
Monaco and Olympique Lyonnais played out an epic battle for third place and Champions League qualification at the end of last season, and were responsible for what was arguably the game of the year. On May 2, the fourth-last round of games in the 2020/21 campaign, Monaco hosted OL at the Stade Louis II. The principality side started the day four points ahead of their opponents, so a win for Niko Kovač’s men would have effectively ended the battle for a podium place. Monaco were 1-0 up, then fell behind before coming back to level at 2-2. But then Rayan Cherki scored a late winner for Lyon in the most dramatic of endings, as both sides had two players red-carded at the death.
That left Lyon a point behind Monaco and that remained the gap going into the final day of the season. Monaco slipped up, drawing 0-0 at RC Lens, but Lyon lost 3-2 at home to OGC Nice, and so third place belonged to the men from the principality. Rudi Garcia, having failed to lead OL back into the Champions League, departed and was replaced in the dugout by Peter Bosz. Monaco, meanwhile, fell short of a place in the group stage itself, suffering an agonising defeat at the hands of Shakhtar Donetsk in a play-off.
Watch: Was this the best game in 2021?
Messi madness
Who honestly thought Lionel Messi was going to come to Ligue 1 Uber Eats?! It happened in 2021, amid euphoric scenes in Paris in August as the Argentine landed in the capital. The Barcelona legend is now lighting up football pitches across France, his debut coming off the bench in a 2-0 win for PSG away at Stade de Reims. Messi had to wait until November 20 for his first Ligue 1 goal, against FC Nantes at the Parc des Princes, with the best performances in the first few months in Paris coming in the Champions League. He ended the year by winning his seventh Ballon d’Or - appropriately enough at a ceremony in Paris - becoming the first player based in France’s top flight to win the prize since Jean-Pierre Papin of Marseille in 1991.
Watch: Messi's first Ligue 1 goal
Peerless Mbappé
If you thought the arrival of Messi in Paris would push Kylian Mbappé into the shadows, then you would be wrong. Mbappé, who has just turned 23, enjoyed another sensational year on a personal level. The boy from Bondy finished last season as the top scorer in Ligue 1 for the third consecutive campaign, with 27 goals. He was also named France’s player of the year by his fellow professionals in the Trophées UNFP awards. He scored 43 times in 52 games for PSG in all competitions in the calendar year. Messi and Neymar Jr. might also share the limelight at the Parc des Princes, but Mbappé has been peerless in 2021. The question now is can PSG persuade him to extend his contract, which is due to expire in June 2022?
Watch: Mbappé's last Ligue 1 goal in 2021
Clermont come up
It was the year in which another new face appeared in Ligue 1 for the first time. Clermont Foot 63 will always 2021 as the year they were promoted to the elite and then started life in the top flight with a bang. The team from Auvergne won their first two Ligue 1 matches, starting the 2021-22 season by beating both Girondins de Bordeaux and ESTAC Troyes 2-0. Unfortunately they have found the going rather tougher since then, and they will hope that 2022 does not see them go straight back down again.
>> CLUB PROFILE: Clermont Foot 63
