Villeneuve-d'Ascq (AFP)

Incredibly awkward, Lille was scared and relied on a double from Burak Yilmaz at the end of the match to defeat Sparta Prague (2-1) on Thursday and thus qualify for the round of 16 of the Europa League .

Despite an avalanche of clear chances, Losc found themselves led by the Czech team after a goal from Ladislav Krejci (71st) and in bad shape.

But fortunately his Turkish striker scored two goals in four minutes (80th, 84th) just after his entry to get his team out of a bad situation.

Archi-domineering, the Mastiffs nevertheless trembled to the end with in particular several free kicks for the Pragois in the last minutes.

But Christophe Galtier's players finally snatched victory and qualification in pain.

With 11 points, the Northerners keep the lead of Group H with a head start over AC Milan, who dominated Celtic Glasgow (4-2).

Lille will try to keep this place in Scotland next week, even if a very reshuffled team should be lined up.

From the start, Lille took control of operations and the meeting was one-sided.

Le Losc stacked up the chances, but was sorely lacking in efficiency.

Thus, on a backlash, Luiz Araujo, ideally served by Yusuf Yazici on two occasions, first stumbled on Florin Nita (31st) before shooting just next (36th).

In the meantime, the Turk tried his luck on a distant free kick (35th).

The Prague goalkeeper, in great demand, then had a good reflex on a new shot from the playmaker deflected by a defender (43rd).

Benjamin André, from the head, also tried his luck twice, just missing the frame (37th), then finding the crossbar (45th).

- Winning coaching -

As of the resumption, the Mastiffs resumed their outrageous domination and again obtained several clear chances, in particular by Jonathan David.

The Canadian first missed his control and stumbled over the Czech goalkeeper on an opening by Jonathan Bamba (48th), then he was stolen the ball by Ladislav Krejci as he was about to take back (49th).

Nita then had a lot of success by involuntarily turning a point-blank head from Xeka (56th) from the face.

Soon after, his defense replaced him by pushing back two consecutive attempts by Botman (63rd).

In the process, Sparta found themselves at ten after the exclusion of Ondrej Celutska, who received two warnings in three minutes (61st and 64th).

However, to everyone's amazement, the Czechs punished the Lille on their only opportunity: only left side, Srdan Plavsic centered at the far post for Krejci, who took the best of Domagoj Bradaric to open the scoring (0-1, 71st ).

But Christophe Galtier's coaching turned out to be a winner since Yilmaz's entry in the 77th minute changed everything: the Turk first equalized by taking over a center behind Timothy Weah, who had also just returned (1- 1, 80th) then he offered the victory and the qualification to the Mastiffs with a curled strike of the flat of the foot on an opening of Jonathan Ikoné, also substitute at the kick-off (2-1, 84th).

If the essential is assured, Lille will have to be more vigilant and especially more efficient in the spring if it wants to achieve a nice European course ...

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