Lille three matches away from Ligue 1 miracle

With three games to go in Ligue 1, Lille are the unlikely leaders and could be set to end Paris Saint-Germain's dominance in France.

The Paris club, with a budget that blows the competition out of the water, have won seven of the last eight Ligue 1 titles but currently trail Lille by a point with three league games left to play.

Back in 2011, when Lille were last crowned champions, they had had three league titles to their name, while PSG had just two.

A decade later, Lille haven't added to their collection, while Qatari-backed PSG now have nine league titles and a strangehold over French football.

Lille are on the verge of an almost miraculous feat and, looking at their run-in, securing the title is a very real possibility.

On Friday, Lille travel to fifth-place rivals Lens in what is likely to be the toughest of their remaining three fixtures, while PSG face a trip to Rennes, who could have overtaken Lens by then, two days later.

The final two fixtures for both sides are, on paper, more straightforward, but, in what could be the crucial difference maker, Lille have only the league to focus on, while PSG are still fighting on three fronts.

The Parisian club will be in Manchester on Tuesday, hoping to overturn a 2-1 deficit from the first leg of their Champions League semi-final, and three days after playing away Rennes, they have the semi-final of the Coupe de France against Montpellier.

It remains to be seen if PSG will make the final of either competition, but their schedule is certainly much more hectic than Lille's, who know they have just three games left to play and not potentially seven.

'Les Dogues' just have one goal to focus on and know they have, in effect, three finals to play in order to achieve it.

They have reached this point partly thanks to the goals of 35-year-old Turkish centre forward Burak Yilmaz who has 13 in 25 Ligue 1 games and his Canadian strike partner Jonathan David, 14 years his junior, who has 11 in 34.

The blend of youth and experience has been key at the other end of the pitch, too, with a central defence comprised of 37-year-old captain Jose Fonte and 21-year-old Swede Sven Botman forming the heart of Cristophe Galtier's 4-4-2 system.

The pairing have helped the team to the best defensive record in the league and their solidity at the back has been key to their success, especially given that they have actually scored the fewest goals in the top four.

Averaging just 0.63 goals against per game, Galtier's team have gone from unlikely contenders to favourites over the course of the season, although he has often been keen to play down their chances.

Now, captain Fonte, who knows something about winning as a dark horse following his Euro 2016 success with Portugal, believes every game left is a cup final.

"Lens next Friday is the most important thing, it's the derby, but after that we also need to beat Saint-Étienne, and perhaps Angers," said Fonte in his post-game interview on Saturday.

"Lens is an important match, but we must treat all the games like a cup final.

"We're there, in the fight, and we're prepared to win every match."

Fonte's experience as one of the elder statesmen in a relatively young team could be key to seeing Lille over the line this season.

If they can pull it off, there's no doubt that the rest of Europe would sit up and take notice of what would be a remarkable achievement.