Le Havre (AFP)
Lille avoided the trap set by fans of Gonfreville-l'Orcher (Nationale 3) and composted their ticket for the 8th finals of the Coupe de France by winning easily (2-0) Saturday at the Océane Stadium in Le Havre.
Dominating but ineffective, the Losc has long stumbled on the solid defense of Normandy and its goalkeeper Yoann Blin, before finally finding the fault thanks to Loïc Rémy (69th) and Victor Osimhen (90th + 1).
Like Marseille, which struggled Friday to dismiss Granville (N2), the Northerners suffered even if they were not really worried by the Gonfrevillais.
In a very well stocked Océane Stadium (15,491 spectators), the Lille started the match very well against the players of the 5th division.
The opportunities were linked but the players of Christophe Galtier cruelly lacked realism, like Rémy (4th), Domagoj Bradaric (8th), Jonathan Ikoné (9th, 44th) or a returnee from Adama Soumaoro that the Norman porter deflected on his post (11th).
After the break, Lille first struggled to be dangerous during the first quarter of an hour, before accelerating. But again, the Mastiffs were ineffective on attempts by Luiz Araujo (60th) and Jonathan Bamba (64th).
Finally, the latter ended up unblocking the situation by launching Rémy, who eliminated the Norman goalkeeper before scoring in the empty goal (1-0, 69th).
Then Osimhen scored his 15th goal of the season, in all competitions, in additional time (2-0, 90th + 1).
Shaken by their coach on Sunday after a disappointing setback in Dijon in the league (1-0), the northern players regained confidence before going to challenge Lyon on Tuesday in the semi-final of the League Cup.
© 2020 AFP