Lille (AFP)

"The fate of Losc is in the hands and feet of the players": Lille is one step away from the league title, which he will win if he succeeds at Angers on Sunday (9 p.m.), but the leader has to endure the enormous pressure of this "final".

"We will have to put aside all the emotions, family emotions, personal emotions, those related to the environment. We must be clear-headed and cold," said northern coach Christophe Galtier.

A week after toasting their last joker by conceding a disappointing draw against Saint-Etienne (0-0), the "Mastiffs" no longer have a choice: they will have to find their bite to eat the SCO and thus win the fourth title of their history.

One point behind, Paris SG went to Brest at the same time with the hope of being able to come back ahead on the wire ... This puts tremendous pressure on Losc, which a draw could bring down from the throne.

A week ago, Lille showed "nervousness" against the Greens, according to Galtier's analysis after the meeting.

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"It was rather tension, corrected the technician on Friday. But we played a very average game. I reassured my players that it would have taken 4 points to win the title and that they already had goes part of the way. "

- "Relativize" -

The Northerners, at the gates of a major feat, have yet tried to minimize this enormous pressure that will weigh on their shoulders at the Raymond-Kopa stadium in Angers.

"The pressure is normal for it to rise, but there is the right pressure and the overpressure. There is an expectation, it is legitimate, but we have to put it into perspective. We can do something extraordinary, he There is only positive, there is no negative pressure to be had. It's a plus to get there so we play to have fun, we let go and we go! ", explained the experienced midfielder Benjamin André, who has already tripped Paris, in the final of the Coupe de France 2019, with Rennes.

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"It's an expectation, not a pressure because the Losc season is very beautiful, it is magnificent. We have a distance final on the last day, it has been a long time since this happened and we have this final because my players have had a great season, said Galtier. I would really like for them, after all they have given, that they have an exceptional season. "

For this decisive meeting, the Lille technician will however be deprived of a master asset, his central defender and captain José Fonte, suspended.

- "Do not scatter" -

"There is never a good time to lose your captain and obviously even less in this kind of match, which is not a championship match but a final. But there are absentees everywhere, I don't want to not dramatize that, "he said, before specifying that it is the young Tiago Djalo who will be aligned in central defense with Sven Botman.

Best away team in the Championship, Losc, who have won their last four trips to Paris, Metz, Lyon and Lens, have the means to win by playing on their fundamentals, solidity, transition, efficiency .

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"We have to focus on us and only on us, if we are focused and applied on what we have to do, we will have a nice reward. The coach told us to ignore everything that is happening around, to tighten around the group and the work, not to scatter, "detailed André.

"I believe in it, I have the firm conviction that my players can do it. But we have to say to ourselves that we are playing against Angers, not against Paris. We have to be focused on the Angers-Losc match, and whatever what Paris will do ", hammered Galtier.

And to conclude: "One thing is certain: if we win it's done! We are better in the shoes of a Lille than a Parisian now."

© 2021 AFP