A double against the Madrid bigwigs? Buoyed by the momentum of their exploit at home against Real, Lille dreams of a victory in the Spanish capital, this time against Atlético on Wednesday (9:00 p.m.) in the Champions League.
The last images of Losc on the most beautiful European stage date back to October 2: an ideal evening celebrated in a joyful party with the Stade Pierre-Mauroy, drunk with happiness at having seen its Dogues tame Real Madrid (1-0), its stars and its label of greatest club in the world.
From this success, undoubtedly one of the greatest in its history, was born the certainty that the northern club is capable of great things when its coach points the way forward, and its players rush into it by showing the best version of themselves, far from their defeat in Lisbon against Sporting (2-0).
“The victory against Real gives us confidence because we showed that we can do great things against big teams. But tomorrow it will be a different context, it would be a big mistake to arrive with ce
rtainties,” declared Lille coach Bruno Genesio at a press conference.
Losc will have to achieve a performance of the same technical and tactical order to hope to beat Atlético of Diego Simeone and Antoine Griezmann, a regular in European competitions, whose values ??of combativeness and self-sacrifice are no longer in doubt.
The Colchoneros, however, suffered a humiliation in their last Champions League outing, in Lisbon against Benfica (4-0), which places them for the moment in only 23rd place, behind Lille (18th), right in the middle of the ranking which should still change considerably until the end of the league phase.
Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone praised Losc’s “attractive and courageous” football, “a team that plays very well. They beat Real Madrid, that alone means a lot.”
– Many absences from Lille –
Unbeaten since their feat against Real, Lille are however coming off a disappointing performance in Monaco (0-0) where they were unable to take advantage of their numerical advantage acquired
at the hour mark. Their technical poverty and lack of drive, during a dull match, also provoked the anger of coach Bruno Genesio.
“It’s a match where we have everything to gain, against a team with experience, a quality squad and who are used to playing in this competition. We come here to play our game, to be well organised and defend well, but we won’t be satisfied with that, unlike what we did in Monaco. I expect the team to play with all its strength when it has the ball,” explained the former Lyon coach.
During this match, Losc lost Mitchel Bakker for several weeks, who joined the long list of players sidelined: Nabil Bentaleb, Ismaily, Hakon Haraldsson, Tiago Santos, Samuel Umtiti, and Ethan Mbappé. At left-back, Bruno Genesio now only has Gabriel Gudmundsson.
Young Lille hopeful Ayyoub Bouaddi, who has a calf injury, has also been sent to the infirmary.
Lille is probably paying for the fact that it had to go through the third qualifying round and then the play-offs for promotion to the Champions Le
ague in August, piling up playing minutes in matches with high sporting and financial stakes when other clubs were preparing for their season.
Lille are also immersed in a series of three away games in nine days that will end in Lens in the long-awaited northern France derby in Lens. But before that, they have a new meeting with a club from Madrid, the stars of the Champions League and its catchy anthem.
Source: Burkina Information Agency