Villeneuve-d'Ascq (AFP)

A week after a convincing success in Prague (4-1), Lille snatched the draw (2-2) at home against Celtic Glasgow after being led 2-0 at halftime on Thursday in Matchday 2 of the Europa League.

Le Losc, surprised by a double from the Norwegian Mohamed Elyounoussi in the first period (28th, 33rd), reacted after the break and equalized thanks to Zeki Celik (67th) and Jonathan Ikoné (75th).

The Mastiffs, co-leaders of L1 and still unbeaten this season in all competitions, may however regret their absences in the first period and the penalty missed by Jonathan David (41st), in glaring lack of confidence, because they generally dominated the Scottish formation .

The Northerners are now second in Group H with 4 points, two lengths behind AC Milan, which they will challenge next week at San Siro and which easily beat Sparta Prague on Thursday (3-0).

From the start, Losc confiscated the ball and got the first chances.

On a corner from Yusuf Yazici, the ball sailed into the area and after a counter strike from Zeki Celik, Boubakary Soumaré's attempt (15th) found Scott Bain, the Celtic goalkeeper.

Then a free kick from the Turkish playmaker is further rejected by the Scottish goalkeeper (16th).

But little by little, the Celtic got their heads out of the water and took the upper hand physically.

After a goal denied for offside to Albian Ajeti (20th) and an off-target attempt by the Swiss striker (26th), the Scottish club ended up opening the scoring on a big Lille error.

- clumsy David -

Zeki Celik pushed the ball too far, Ajeti recovered it to launch Elyounoussi, whose curled shot ended in the small net of Mike Maignan (0-1, 28 ').

A few minutes later, the Norwegian striker doubled the end of a school action: Ajeti shifted the right side Jeremie Frimpong, whose receding center was taken from an unstoppable flat foot by Elyounoussi (0 -2, 33rd).

Stunned, the Losc tried to react quickly and had the opportunity to reduce the gap on a penalty obtained by Jonathan David.

The Canadian, very clumsy since the start of the season, stumbled on Bain full axis and therefore failed to score his first goal with the Mastiffs (41st).

In the wake, after a ball released by Bain on a free kick from Yazici, Sven Botman found the cross (43rd).

After the break, Lille woke up and pushed to try to restart the game.

But the lack of precision and the heroic defense of the Scots, who fought like lions, complicated the task of the Northerners.

Shortly after the hour mark, Lille finally managed to make a comeback thanks to Celik, who took a corner from his compatriot Yazici (1-2, 67th) at the far post.

Losc continued its momentum against a Celtic more and more physically struggling and was quick to equalize by Ikoné, whose pivot shot was deflected by an opposing defender (2-2, 75th).

Despite a one-sided end to the game, Lille did not manage to snatch victory and must be content with a draw.

© 2020 AFP