Nantes came close to a double, for they reached the Cup final. Paris SG, winners the previous year, was the other finalist. Ambitious opponents, but Paris SG prevailed 3-2.
Nantes failed to win a double, but it was still a great season.
Second consecutive Cup for Paris SG, which also doubled the total number of trophies they won so far. So far, the club’s ambitions did not really materialized and the reason for the failures was the approach – seemingly, Paris SG thought that money is enough for making a winning squad. For years they simply bought players with big names. Yes, on paper the squad was more than impressive; closer look tells differently: Bathenay, Rocheteau, and Barateli were quite old by now and no longer at their prime. The same with Dahleb and Toko, who played for Paris SG for years already. Ardiles was 30 years old. The younger stars were Fernandez, the Dutch scorer Kees Kist, and the Yugoslav exciting attacking midfielder Safet Susic. But the mistake was not just getting old players – Osvaldo Ardiles came to Paris SG on loan and only because of the Falklands War. Neither Tottenham Hotspur, nor the Argentine wanted to part with each other. Ossie like Tottenham, liked London, and was big favourite with the fans. The war changed things and Tottenham loaned him to Paris SG. It was clear that the French club would be able to keep him and use him in full only if the war between England and Argentina lasts for many years. There was no way to focus the team on Ardiles under such circumstances, it was almost a temporary showcase. Ardiles played only 14 matches and scored 1 goal for Paris SG, but his brief presence opened another problem – suddenly Paris SG had too many foreigners. Safet Susic was temporary sent back home. Not good for moral, even worse in terms of team-building. When he came back there was more: Susic and Rocheteau were quite similar. The attack was centered on either of them and who got the ball usually kept it and finish the attack. Not very effective strategy, but both were a bit egocentric and also displayed the same limitation: both kept the ball a bit too long, just enough to miss opportunity and allow the opposition to regroup and kill the danger. But since the game was focused on them, Kees Kist became the odd man out. No balls came to him ever. There was no effort to create opportunities for his great scoring talent. Kist became invisible and useless – he scored 12 goals in 34 games, but he was let go after the end of the season. It was clear that mere collection of names was not the key for success, but Paris SG followed this path from start and stubbornly continued the same mistaken and unproductive policy. At last they were able to get some trophies and winning the Cup two years in a row was great, but it was only the Cup – the long championship, needing consistency, was beyond their reach.