“He’s the best left back in Ligue 1.” An underrated player, Brazilian defender Ismaily, decisive last week in Metz, is one of the core men of Losc, who welcome Lyon on Monday (9:00 p.m.) during the 32nd day of Ligue 1.
For once, he took the light. By equalizing against Messins last week After a superb breakthrough, Ismaily put himself forward and brought a shower of praise from his teammates.
“He’s the best left-back in the championship,” says Angel Gomes, who sees in him “a player who doesn’t need the captain’s armband to be a leader.”
Discreet on the pitch, the 34-year-old Brazilian is just as discreet in his media expression and in the Mastiffs locker room, but he nonetheless remains one of the captains.
“Isma’ leads by example, but not necessarily by communicating or haranguing us, explains the English midfielder. When we watch him in training, in matches, we see that he is a leader. It’s one of the oldest players on the squad, and we have the impression that he could play for another five or six years. I had the pleasure of playing with him the last two years.
After football, the farm
This self-effacing character also fits with the simple passions of the man who imagines, once his playing career is over, retiring to his farm in Angelica, a “very peaceful” town of 10,000 inhabitants in the southwest of Brazil.
“I prefer to have a quiet life,” he said on the Losc website five months after signing. “I like fishing, life on the farm, taking care of my horses, livestock, seeing my friends. is what I plan to do after my football life.”
In the meantime, the former Shakhtar Donetsk player (for almost a decade) who arrived in the North in August 2022 has continued good performances with Losc. Reliable defensively, very clean and efficient offensively if not flamboyant, Ismaily is a complete player with an average physique (1.77 m, 82 kg).
If he is not as fast as Parisian Nuno Mendes, among others, his silky technique makes him an essential player in the possession game advocated by his coach Paulo Fonseca.
“Isma’ is very important for us, confirms Nabil Bentaleb. With his technical quality, it’s very easy to get the ball out the way you want. He is able to get out of somewhat embarrassing situations.”
“He smells like football”
Whether he is associated with Gabriel Gudmundsson, Hakon Haraldsson or Rémy Cabella, Ismaily manages to get along with all his friends on the left wing. “He feels football, even without speaking, just the ball at his feet, we understand each other,” smiles Cabella. “I know how he plays, what he wants, and then it’s up to me to adapt to the others, and that works well. You have to come to training to see (laughs): right foot, left foot, Isma’, it’s a phenomenon.
Beyond his qualities with the ball, Ismaily brings to the Lille group what it will need at the end of the season: experience, essential in particular in the management of weak times.
The northern club has the opportunity to take advantage of Brest’s misstep against Nantes (0-0) on Saturday to overtake the Finistère club and take third place, synonymous with a direct ticket to the prestigious and lucrative Champions League.
But to be sure of getting there, Losc must win their last three matches against Lyon, in Nantes and finally against Nice at home.
