Since the UNFP trophies only arrive at the end of the season, we decided to create our own mid-season awards by awarding Césars for Ligue 1. By using the categories of those from the cinema… even if the meaning original is sometimes a little diverted.
Best film
PSG-Monaco, a match played on November 24, may have turned Ligue 1 on its head since the Parisian club, which was only 3 points ahead of its opponent, widened the gap and showed that its best level was difficult to achieve for national competition. Beyond the score, and this 5-2 victory, remains of this shock the memory of great flights, of errors, of a suspense which disappears before returning for, finally, an expected end.
Best achievement
Lamine Camara has only scored one goal this season, and just one goal at club level, but the Metz midfielder won the trophy for the most beautiful with his lob scored against Monaco on October 22. In addition to the distance, a very respectable 58.4 meters which makes it the fourth furthest in Ligue 1 since 2006 and the start of measurements, there is a real aesthetic notion which adds to the spectacle. The strike follows a recovery and its suddenness is accompanied by a straight trajectory allowing it to fall under the bar without losing speed.
Best actor
Kylian Mbappé is the star of Ligue 1 and he knows how to live up to the role. Top scorer with 18 goals, more than double that of his first pursuer, the Parisian striker is constantly capable of lighting up the screen with gestures of genius. And even when he’s not doing crazy things, he still captures the image, intriguing everyone when he doesn’t celebrate a goal and settles into the number 9 position without really occupying it.
Best Supporting Actor
Pierre Lees-Melou may well be the highest rated player in Ligue 1 in our columns, but he is a hero in the shadows, a worker who drives the defensive statistics into disarray. Within a Brest team expected as an art film and which became a box office hit, the midfielder makes the others shine so much that he takes a little light in the process, his ability to move the game forward being essential in the construction of attacks.
Best male hopeful
Could Warren Zaire-Emery not win this trophy? Even if Lenny Yoro, who has just come of age, has established himself in the Lille defense, as has Guillaume Restes in the Toulouse goal or, to a lesser degree, Eli Junior Kroupi in the Lorient offensive line , the PSG midfielder achieves very high level performances in most of his appearances. If he is not yet alone at the top of the bill, his progress will soon make him leave the status of hope to become a star.
Best Original Screenplay
Kamory Doumbia had played less than 300 minutes with Brest this season before the reception at Lorient on December 20, the moment chosen by the Malian midfielder to score a quadruple in less than half an hour. If we add the suddenness of the volley which allowed him to open the scoring and the imminence of the African Cup of Nations, which made this match his last opportunity to shine in France for a few weeks, the scenario is also unexpected that spectacular.
Best adaptation
Francesco Farioli, and his revival of “Dezerbisme” in Nice, is the pleasant surprise of the start of the season. Like Roberto De Zerbi, his mentor now on the Brighton bench, the Italian coach likes his central defenders to multiply passes to attract pressure and verticalize as soon as a gap opens. If the opponents often refused to give in, making the copy less exciting than the original, the Niçois are excellent runners-up.
Best decors
The tifo “At Racing, even the children no longer believe in Santa Claus! » deployed at La Meinau, during the reception of Lille on December 20, combined the look and the message, since it comes in opposition to the influence of Chelsea since the takeover of Strasbourg by the American consortium BlueCo. Still just as noisy, the Alsatian supporters were also able to celebrate a 2-1 victory against Lille, making the scenario match the scenery.
The tifo of Strasbourg supporters during the reception in Lille on December 20. (F. Faugère/The Team)
Best costumes
Le Havre, tied for first in our jersey ranking at the start of the season and clear winner of the internet users’ vote, confirmed that his tunic was as pretty worn as in the photo. If other clubs have made more or less successful attempts at secondary jersey games, the Normans show that having beautiful costumes is not a question of budget.
Best editing
Ernest Nuamah’s loan to Lyon via Molenbeek will remain a funny moment of the January transfer window. This arrangement, certainly seen in the past, still pushed FIFA to open “follow-up information” to clarify the conditions of a 25 million transfer made by a promotion to Belgian D1. If he is still intermittent, Nuamah, only 20 years old, is one of the players who can embody the future of an OL who knew how to be creative.
Best first film
Jocelyn Gourvennec, who took charge of Nantes on November 29, made his debut on the bench of his new club against Nice on December 2 (1-0) and inflicted on the Aiglons their first defeat of the season, they who did not had never been carried out before. A result all the more important as it validated the choice of the Nantes leaders to change coach to strengthen defensive solidity… even if the rest did not live up to the beginnings.
Best Animated Film
The right lane Achraf Hakimi-Ousmane Dembélé has been carrying Paris Saint-Germain since the start of the season and, for the moment, no one has found the key to prevent them from combining. Even when these two are not directly responding to each other, the outside position of one frees up the half-space for the other. An animation which allows Hakimi (3 goals, 4 assists in Ligue 1) to find himself in his best role.
Best photography
The embrace of the Mbappé brothers, at the end of a match won by Paris against Metz on December 20 (3-1), is both beautiful and symbolic since it punctuated a match where Kylian for the first time once played with his brother. Having entered even before his seventeenth birthday, the cadet will undoubtedly have other opportunities to experience such moments but there will always be this photo to illustrate the moment.
The hug between Kylian and Ethan Mbappé at the end of the match against Metz. (A. Réau/The Team)
Best sound
“I am not very happy with Kylian today”: interviewed by Prime Video after the Paris match at Reims on November 11, Luis Enrique released this surprising sentence, all the more so after a 3-0 success with a hat-trick from Mbappé. Justifying the Parisian coach’s desire to see his player do more, it has since returned as a common theme, the soundtrack of a season where the attacker is at the end of his contract.
Best visual effects
Teddy Teuma’s double on the Montpellier pitch (3-1, August 27), for Rémois’ first start in Ligue 1, was a reminder that strikes from outside the area were the best way to get an eyeful . Decisive passer from a corner on Reims’ first goal, the Maltese then took a free kick into the right corner and a half-volley into the left corner, while multiplying the passes with effect. All in the lair of Téji Savanier, one of the masters in the field, in what could be compared to a tribute.
Best Animated Short Film
The entry of Désiré Doué and the switch from Rennes to 4-4-2 at the break against Clermont on December 20 made it possible to correct the problems with the animation of the 3-4-3. While the Rennais struggled to appear dangerous, the addition of an offensive element, capable of existing between the lines such as coming to help Arnaud Kalimuendo, Amine Gouiri and Martin Terrier a notch higher allowed in 45 minutes to change the match from 0-1 to 3-1. Convincing enough to be made into a feature film and kept for the end of the season?
Best documentary film
“The finishers” at RC Lens is not just a term used regularly by coach Franck Haise in place of the word substitutes. If they did not defeat Barkley, the blood and gold newcomers made the difference by scoring 8 goals, the highest total in Ligue 1. And Racing is the only club to have used its five changes during all meetings, bringing to life the desires of their director.
Best foreign film
Dante is not just a model of longevity since the 40-year-old Nice defender is the second highest rated player in our columns. Always as good with the ball, the Brazilian compensates for his lack of explosiveness with a defensive science which allows him to frustrate the vast majority of attackers in the Championship. With Jean-Clair Todibo, he forms the basis of the least permeable rearguard in France (only 9 goals conceded this season), a country where he achieved some of his finest footballing works.
Best Short Film
Jérémy Doku, who is now well established at Manchester City, started the season with Rennes. This time seems very distant but, on August 13 and 20, the Belgian winger played 83 minutes against Metz (5-1), scoring with a point-blank strike, then half an hour in Lens (1-1 ). Two short formats and a statistic that will never be forgotten: with 9 successful dribbles out of 9 attempted, the Belgian will finish the season 100% in the exercise. A grand finale for an action specialist.
