Winner takes all in France

Title play-off
As in Italy and Germany, the real drama has been saved until the last day of the season. What enhances this story, however, is the fact first meets second in what amounts to a title play-off. Lens, league leaders as they have been on 28 of the campaign's 33 matchdays, take a one-point advantage to Lyon, the great pretenders.

A must-see finale
French football has seen nothing like it. While Lens and FC Girondins de Bordeaux have both won the crown on the last day in recent years, they did not have to face a direct challenger. Saturday's season finale is a must-see event, and Lyon have received over 200,000 ticket requests for their 42,000-capacity ground. This exceeds the demand for the UEFA Champions League tie against FC Barcelona. More than 200 media will also be in attendance - a French record.

The way old friends do
As the whirligig whirls on, the mood in both camps is calm. The chairmen of Lens and Lyon, Gervais Martel and Jean-Michel Aulas, are old friends. "We talk on the phone every day about problems concerning the national league," said Martel. "Why should there be a problem between us? If someone had told me we would be fighting it out with Lyon on the last matchday, I would have laughed."

Coaches tip Lyon
If Lens were no more than an outside bet in the eyes of the July bookmakers, big-spending Lyon were aiming at the first Division 1 title in their history. In a recent poll, 53 per cent of top-flight coaches tipped them to complete the job this weekend. The statistics also favour OL: they are unbeaten at home this term and have not conceded a goal at Gerland since 9 February. Lens, meanwhile, have taken just five points from five games.

A meeting of opposites
Yet the real contrast is out on the pitch. France's coach of the year, Joël Muller, has found strength in a unit that espouses the 'one for all' mentality. In defence, Eric Sikora, Jean-Guy Wallemme and goalkeeper Guillaume Warmuz remain from the championship-winning team of 1998. While fleet-of-foot forwards Daniel Moreira and El-Hadji Diouf make Lens the away-day specialists. They have won eight of 16 matches on their travels.

'A great match'
For their part, Lyon rely on the individual skills of the likes of captain Sonny Anderson, Sidney Govou, Pegguy Luyindula and Juninho. All potential match-winners. Speaking ahead of Saturday's decider, Anderson said: "It will be a very close match with very few chances. Whoever gets the first goal will be at a huge advantage." Lens striker Diouf said: "I see a great match with lots of goals." Both would agree, however, that the result is all that matters.