Villeneuve-d'Ascq (AFP)
Beaten at home (2-0) Sunday by Paris SG, Lille recorded their third consecutive defeat in the league and saw the podium and the prospect of finding the Champions League away.
Undefeated at the Pierre-Mauroy Stadium since March 2019, the Losc has given in to the untouchable leader and sinks into doubt as a very complicated calendar presents itself to him in the next two weeks.
After this eighth setback in 21 days, more than during the whole of last season, the Northerners retreat to seventh row and already point to six and eleven lengths respectively from Marseille (2nd) and Rennes (3rd), the next two opponents who will present themselves on their lawn.
Eliminated on penalties on Tuesday in Lyon in the semi-final of the League Cup, the players of Christophe Galtier have badly negotiated a week which promised to be pivotal.
However, they had a good match at Parc OL and were not overtaken against PSG, but they lacked a sharp edge on both sides of the field. They notably conceded a penalty for a hand in the area during each of the two meetings, a fact of play that had already occurred several times since the start of the exercise.
In attack, goalscorer Victor Osimhen was rarely found on Sunday, although he did get two chances in the first period. On the first, he attempted a daring strike without control, which did not go very far from the skylight (34th), while on the second, he did not frame his attempt when he was ideally placed (37th ).
- An attack in difficulty -
Since the start of the season, the Nigerian has been the tree that hides the forest in the Lille offensive sector. Its effectiveness has partially masked the difficulties that Losc is experiencing in its offensive animation, orphan of its feudal follower Nicolas Pépé, who left last summer at Arsenal for 80 million euros after having achieved a sparkling year (22 goals and 11 assists in the league).
Sunday, apart from the two situations of Osimhen, the only other opportunity was a coiled strike from the Brazilian Luiz Araujo narrowly slammed in a corner by the Parisian goalkeeper Keylor Navas (9th). In the second half, Lille almost never worried about the defense of PSG, notably due to the lack of precision in the last move.
If the Portuguese Renato Sanches was the best Lille, which is a good omen, Jonathan Ikoné made another pale copy against his trainer club, while his friend Jonathan Baba had even been relegated to the bench at kick-off for the benefit of Araujo. The return in the coming days of Timothy Weah, absent since August, could reshuffle the cards and give a little pep to an attack in difficulties.
Christophe Galtier has a lot of work to do to relaunch his team, which will have to react on the grass of Epinal fans (National 2) as of Wednesday in the 8th finals of the Coupe de France. A match-trap that should absolutely not be lost, on pain of seeing a little more cloudy already cloudy.
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