Lille’s Cole feels French league just as competitive as England
Submitted by Andrew Slevison on Thu, 02/02/2012 - 16:48
Liverpool’s Lille loanee Joe Cole believes that France’s top flight is as good as the Premier League if you take away the top four.
The 30-year old midfielder is enjoying his loan in Ligue 1 and says that the quality of football is just as strong as the competition he played in from 1998 until last year.
"The difference with Premier League is the intensity. But it has always been like that.
"The (other) difference is England has money to buy David Silva, (Mario) Balotelli, (Sergio) Aguero, etc.""The stadiums are not as beautiful as in England, but if you remove Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea or Tottenham, the level is the same," he told L’Equipe.
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Results & Fixtures
Matches
| Home | Away | Score | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun May 20th | |||
| Toulouse | Ajaccio | - 2 | 19:00 |
| Evian TG | Brest | - 1 | 19:00 |
| Stade Rennes | Dijon | 19:00 | |
| Valenciennes | Caen | 3 - 1 | 19:00 |
| Lille | Nancy | 4 - 1 | 19:00 |
| Saint-Étienne | Bordeaux | 2 - 3 | 19:00 |
| Lorient | PSG | 1 - 2 | 19:00 |
| Sochaux | Olympique Marseille | 19:00 | |
| Auxerre | Montpellier | 1 - 2 | 19:00 |
| Olympique Lyon | Nice | 3 - 4 | 19:00 |
Tables
| Team | P | W | D | L | GD | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montpellier | 38 | 25 | 7 | 6 | 34 | 82 |
| PSG | 38 | 23 | 10 | 5 | 34 | 79 |
| Lille | 38 | 21 | 11 | 6 | 33 | 74 |
| Olympique Lyon | 38 | 19 | 7 | 12 | 13 | 64 |
| Bordeaux | 38 | 16 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 61 |
| Stade Rennes | 38 | 17 | 9 | 12 | 9 | 60 |
| Saint-Etienne | 38 | 16 | 9 | 13 | 4 | 57 |
| Toulouse | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 3 | 56 |
| Evian TG | 38 | 13 | 11 | 14 | -1 | 50 |
| Olympique Marseille | 38 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 4 | 48 |
| Nancy | 38 | 11 | 12 | 15 | -10 | 45 |
| Valenciennes | 38 | 12 | 7 | 19 | -10 | 43 |
| Nice | 38 | 10 | 12 | 16 | -7 | 42 |
| Sochaux | 38 | 11 | 9 | 18 | -20 | 42 |
| Brest | 38 | 8 | 17 | 13 | -7 | 41 |
| Ajaccio | 38 | 9 | 14 | 15 | -21 | 41 |
| Lorient | 38 | 9 | 12 | 17 | -14 | 39 |
| Caen | 38 | 9 | 11 | 18 | -20 | 38 |
| Dijon | 38 | 9 | 9 | 20 | -25 | 36 |
| Auxerre | 38 | 7 | 13 | 18 | -11 | 34 |
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