Paris (AFP)

The return of the quarrels of the bell towers: with the Monaco-Nice Riviera on Tuesday, followed on Wednesday by the hot Montpellier-Nîmes and the regionalist Nantes-Rennes, the 7th day of Ligue 1, which begins on Tuesday, draws a varied cartography of the derbies of France.

In full week, it is better to envisage posters: the League (LFP) understood it well by scheduling some meetings likely to fill the stadiums in spite of unfavorable schedules (19:00 for most of the matches).

. Monaco-Nice (Tuesday, 9 pm)

Who will really play at home? In Louis-II, the Niçois still come very many and the stage is often pro-Nice. Moreover, before the victory against Dijon Sunday (2-1), the speaker of the Allianz Riviera Nice said, a little provocatively: "We start a series of three home games by Dijon, before we go in Monaco, our second stadium, Tuesday, and to receive Lille, next Saturday. "

Even the newcomer, Adam Ounas, says: "I've been hearing about it for several days and everywhere I'm told it's the 20th game of the season at home" ...

The "derby of the Côte d'Azur" is the one that opposes the two championship cities closest geographically, since they are only twenty kilometers away.

Regularly, Nice fans go there in scooters and do not hesitate to make the maximum of noise, fumigènes with the key. Even more this Tuesday, day of strike and demonstrations against the pension reform.

Sportingly, the stakes are high: Nice is on the podium after a successful start to the season, while the ASM is again in full crisis (3 points in 6 games). Since March 15 and a win in Lille (1-0, 29th day 2018-2019), Monaco won only one game (Amiens, 2-0, 37th day) on the 15 played in L1.

"It's the first time in my 16-year career that I've played so many negative matches like that," said Portuguese technician Leonardo Jardim.

. Montpellier-Nîmes (Wednesday, 7 pm)

This is theoretically the hottest derby of the three in the program of the 7th day. But the prefecture of Herault has cut the grass under the foot fans Nimes by prohibiting them to go to the Mosson, in downtown Montpellier and in some areas of the city.

"The meetings between the MHSC and Nîmes Olympique systematically lead to violent clashes between the supporters of the two teams", justifies the prefectural order.

"It is necessary that this hate stops", denounces Cyril Roure, founding president of the association of supporters of Nîmes + Nemausus 2013+. "There are too many slippages, it's not football anymore, it's one of the hottest derbies in France (...) We're tending towards delinquency, it's awful", he laments.

In May 2018, a historic banner of Butte Paillade 91 was, for example, stolen after burglary at the grinder at the headquarters of ultras Montpellier. And four months later, on September 30 at Montpellier-Nîmes, Nîmes supporters had brandished a piece of this tarpaulin, causing a crowd and an interruption of the meeting.

. Nantes-Rennes (Wednesday, 7 pm)

For a long time, the meetings between Red and Black and Canaries were only friendly games between neighbors. There was no sporting rivalry, since Nantes dominated French football (8 league titles) when Rennes regularly took the lift between L1 and L2.

Since the purchase by the Pinault family in the late 90s, the Stade Rennais has taken another dimension, while Nantes has lost its superb (last title in 2001, several descents in L2).

Above all, the extrasportive has gradually been invited into the battle. First, is it a Breton derby or a western derby? The question divides, between the administrative capital of current Brittany, and Nantes, historical capital.

Tension has also risen a notch since 2007 and the invasion of Beaujoire by supporters in Nantes during a match against ... Toulouse, which had resulted in a lost match for Nantes. What relationship with Rennes? The three points "offered" to Toulouse had allowed them to qualify for the Champions League, to the detriment of Rennes ...

© 2019 AFP