2023-08-24 22:37:57
Phew! We had to wait for the last seconds of the match to finally see Lille come out of the hole and the trap. “This match will be difficult, against a team that I really like, with a lot of good players, very organized,” warned coach Paulo Fonseca.
After the elimination of OM from the Champions League in the middle of the summer, Lille has however long put itself in danger in “its” European Cup. In the first leg of the preliminary round of the Europa League Conference, the small European Cup, Losc had all the trouble in the world to beat the Croats of HNK Rijeka. The domination of the Northerners has long remained sterile. Faced with a club deprived of its coach for two days after its choice to leave for Dinamo Zagreb, Lille suffered.
The Lille were surprised shortly before the half hour mark (24th) by a first goal from Pasalic. Lille have struggled to recover. They had to wait for the last minutes -already- of the first half to come back to score. It was Kosovar right winger Edon Zhegrova who set the record straight (1-1, 43rd). The second half was a long trench fight, with Lille pushing but Rijeka resisting. For a long time, the score remained nil and we did not see how Lille were going to be able to do better. Until the 89th and the deliverance came from the young (17) central defender Leny Yoro. Trained at Losc, he came to jump at the near post on a cross from the right side to place an angry header. Lille narrowly takes an option on qualification before the return match scheduled in a week.
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