A certain je ne sais quoi

By Christian Châtelet

By general consent, 1998 was the finest year in the history of French football. Few can forget the ecstatic celebrations on Paris's Champs Elysées on 12 July after Les Bleus won the FIFA World Cup on home soil, but there had been successes in club football too.

Monaco success
AS Monaco FC had made their mark in the UEFA Champions League, beating Manchester United FC on away goals in the quarter-finals en route to a thrilling - but ultimately frustrating - semi-final defeat by Juventus FC.

French lockout
Subsequently, no French team had reached the last eight of Europe's premier club competition until this season, when both Monaco and Olympique Lyonnais are rubbing shoulders with the giants.

Success stories
The Champions League has had its share of French success stories since Olympique de Marseille won the inaugural competition in 1993, however. Monaco (1994), Paris Saint-Germain FC (1995) and FC Nantes Atlantique (1996) have been semi-finalists, while AJ Auxerre (1997) were quarter-finalists.

Financial gap
Yet with the gap in financial clout between the relatively modest French sides and their counterparts in Spain, Germany, England and Italy broadening more recently, it seemed unlikely that Ligue 1 clubs would be able to compete with the big boys again.

General downturn
All that has changed this year, despite the fact that most of France's leading players still ply their trade in foreign leagues, and there is little doubt that the general downturn in football's financial fortunes has played its part.

Big signings
With big clubs abroad keen to lower their wage bills, Monaco and Lyon have both benefited from the giants' willingness to offload non first-team players. Monaco's loan of Real Madrid CF's Fernando Morientes and Lyon's acquisition of FC Bayern München's Giovane Elber have proved great moves.

Settled squads
This, combined with the fact that foreign clubs have not had the money to leech the best players from Ligue 1, has made a big difference. As Monaco coach Didier Deschamps said: "For the first time for years, the best clubs in France kept the players they succeeded with."

Great results
With their star names still on board, Monaco and Lyon have been given a rare opportunity to gel as teams and the results have been remarkable. They are in the top two places in Ligue 1, and their teamwork has been impressive in Europe too.

Format changes
Perhaps more crucially, with smaller squads than most of their opponents, the new format of the Champions League has helped the French. "I don't think we could have got through another group stage," admitted Deschamps, wary that - with injuries, suspensions and fixture congestion biting hard - the second group stage of the competition had long been a bridge too far for French teams.

Proving ground
Certainly, the mood in France is buoyant at the moment, but Deschamps maintained that - for the moment at least - French clubs have proved nothing. "To accurately evaluate French clubs' strength we'll need several seasons," he said. "Reaching the quarter-finals regularly would be the ultimate proof. Now we have to do it again next year."

Impossible dream
In the meantime, Paul Le Guen's Lyon face FC Porto in the quarter-finals while Deschamps' Monaco have Real Madrid. For Deschamps, it is time to dream of achieving the seemingly impossible. "We have to seize the day in case there is a chance of winning," he said. It is an attitude that has served French clubs remarkably well this season.