Page 4 - Paris Saint Germain

It feels like it was just yesterday that each of Europe's football leagues was were playing their first games of the 2015 2016 season. However, we're nearing the end of November, which means that we are just about a month away from the mid-season transfer window. Such football clubs (ahemÂ…Chelsea) need all the help they can get with this winter signing period while at least one other (Barcelona) will be getting back into the market for new players after this past summer's transfer ban. Needless to say, January should make for an exciting month in the soccer world. And so far, Paris Saint Germain forward Ezequiel Lavezzi looks like he will be at the center of it all.

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An Imminent Departure?

Lavezzi is 30 years old and has always been dependably solid as a forward and winger at PSG. Since coming

It was fairly clear last season that Manchester United was not the right place for Angel di Maria. While the Argentine football star created a fair number of scoring chances and provided 11 assists-the third highest tally of any Premier League player-he struggled to convert his own scoring opportunities. Indeed, Di Maria only netted three goals in his 27 Premier League appearances-not worth, it seemed, the steep £59.7 million that Louis van Gaal and company had paid to bring him to England.

Di Maria's struggles at Manchester United led to a swift exit and transfer to Paris Saint Germain. And in the early weeks of the season, it looked like Angel had found his place. He provided an assist in his very first match with the new football club-an August 30^th away game against Monaco-and scored just four minutes into PSG's first Champions League match of the new season. But now weeks into the 2015/16 campaign we have to ask Angel di Maria struggling once again?

Tuesday's round of UEFA Champions League group stage fixtures saw the first pair of teams securing assured slots in the tournament's next phase. Both Real Madrid and Manchester City now have strong enough standings in their groups that they are guaranteed of either first or second place. The Vikings, in particular, have been dynamite so far in the prestigious European tournament, with three wins and one draw under their belts so far. More impressive, Real Madrid beat PSG in 2015 UCL group stage play, Paris Saint Germain were one of the tougher opponents in this year's UCL but the Vikings held their own and took three points.

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A Tough Opponent

Indeed, Paris Saint Germain are a soccer superpower in their home country, where they've won three consecutive Ligue 1 titles. However, the football club, who have

Paris Saint Germain have a way of getting tough draws in the Champions League group stage. Last year, the French champs were drawn into a group with FC Barcelona. Barca were, of course, favored to win the group-and they did, before going on to win the entire UCL tournament. But PSG held their own, too, actually beating Barcelona 3-2 the first time the two teams played one another in the group. The match, played on September 30^th, 2014, marked Barcelona's first loss of the 2014 2015 campaign and marked PSG as potential contenders for the Champions League title. The Parisians would ultimately bow out of the conversation in the quarterfinals, after having the misfortune of being drawn against Barcelona for a second time.

This fall, PSG have just as difficult of a draw in the group stage, where they are pitted against Barca's La Liga rivals (and 10-time UCL champions) Real Madrid. This time around, though, the Parisians didn't shock the soccer world with an early upset of

Rumors of a Cristiano Ronaldo transfer have been making the rounds for half a year now, ever since the dismissal of Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti caused soccer pundits to speculate about how happy Ronaldo still is at Santiago Bernabeu. Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, meanwhile, might be done at Chelsea if he can't turn things around for the reigning Premier League champions this season. No one has speculated much about where Mourinho would go if he resigns or gets sacked from the Chelsea job. Most of the rumors about a possible Ronaldo transfer, meanwhile, have pointed to his old football club, Manchester United, as the most likely destination. But Pauleta, the man Ronaldo passed to become Portugal's all-time leading goalscorer, thinks he has a better idea: Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho to PSG.

Pauleta's Opinion

In an interview with RTL, Pauleta said that it would be a "good idea" for both Cristiano and Mourinho

For a good portion of the 2014 2015 season, Olympique Marseille were leading the way in the French Ligue 1. By winning eight matches in a row between late August and late October, Marseille established a lead that held throughout the 2014 portion of the season. Indeed, when the league broke for Christmas and New Year's, the Olympians were still holding down the top spot, with defending champions Paris Saint Germain stuck back at third. During the second half of the season, though, Olympique Marseille were markedly less consistent, dropping to fourth place by the time the 2014 2015 Ligue 1 had wrapped up in late May. Paris Saint Germain, meanwhile, made a comeback to win a third straight French soccer championship. And now after a strong start PSG continue 2015 - 2016 Ligue 1 domination with a win over the Olympians.

PSG's Spotless Season

September 15th was an exciting day for soccer fans in Europe, as the 2015 2016 UEFA Champions League officially got underway. Tuesday saw the first matches in groups A through D, with many heavyweight teams coming out of the woodwork to play. But what did we learn from Champions League 2015 - 2016 Group A day one, and which teams that won big in their first group stage matches will still be hanging around when we reach the late stages of the knockouts?

Ever since the UCL group stage draw at the end of August, soccer analysts have pointed to Group A as one of the most predictable in the competition. They've had a point: Group A, which features Real Madrid, Paris Saint Germain, Malmo FF, and Shakhtar Donetsk, has a clear divide between heavyweight football clubs (Real Madrid, PSG) and also-rans (Malmo FF, Shakhtar). Unsurprisingly, that divide was on display as group stage play began.

Real Madrid vs. Shakhtar Donetsk 

This past weekend, the 2015 2016 French Ligue 1 season officially closed out its first month. With four games on the books (and 34 still to play), it's a good time to look back on the first stage of the season and assess what went down. Which football clubs are in good shape? Which soccer squads are in trouble? Should we expect a fourth straight title for Paris Saint Germain? Read on for a rundown of the first month of Ligue 1 play 2015 featuring the answers to these questions and others.

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Paris Saint Germain Steal the Show

Is anyone even surprised that Paris Saint Germain are on top of the Ligue 1 table after the first month of play? Not only are the Parisians coming off three consecutive French national soccer titles,

Well it's official: Angel Di Maria's days at Manchester United are over. Just one season into a five-year contract with the Red Devils-and one year after the 27-year-old Argentine was thought to be the key to the football club's renaissance - Angel Di Maria transfers to Paris Saint Germain for a £44.3 million fee. That fee is a big downgrade from the £56.7 million Louis van Gaal paid to bring Di Maria to Manchester United. That transfer fee was and is the highest ever paid by an English club.

The Right Choice, or a Horrible Mistake?

For months now, it's been clear that Angel Di Maria wasn't going to be playing another season at Manchester United-let alone four more years. It would be easy to look at Di Maria's freshman season at the soccer club and call it a disaster. In 32 appearances (overall), the winger and attacking midfielder only scored four goals for the Red Devils. A glass-half-empty type might say that Man United

In past years, the International Champions Cup was just one tournament, played in the United States to give American audiences a chance to see some of the biggest soccer clubs in the world in action. This year, the 2015 International Champions Cup tournament expanded to include three editions: one in Australia, one in China, and one in North America and Europe. Real Madrid won the event in both Australia and China, and now, Paris Saint Germain have clinched the larger North American/Europe incarnation of the competition. They follow in the footsteps of Real Madrid and Manchester United, who won the ICC in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

Where the Australia and China versions of the 2015 ICC only featured three teams apiece, the North America/Europe event was more intensive, featuring 10 different soccer teams. The participants for the event came from all over, with football clubs hailing from Spain, England, France, Mexico, Portugal, and Italy all in attendance.