Disappointing recovery for the Mastiffs. Lille had to settle for a draw at home against Nantes on Saturday as part of the 16th day of Ligue 1 (1-1). Dominant, Lille opened the scoring through Gabriel Gudmundsson (41st) without doing enough afterwards and suffered the equalizer from Matthis Abline from the penalty spot (70th). Antoine Kombouaré's Canaries take a valuable point in the race to maintain. Bruno Genesio's men let two slip away even if they regained 4th place.
With their winter recruit Anthony Lopes in the cage, the Nantes residents started the match in a solid but also very cautious manner. They defended low and resisted Lille who quickly saw Matias Fernandez-Pardo go out injured (10th). This change and the small tactical readjustment at the same time slowed down the intentions of Dogues, who controlled the ball. Nantes was able to try to attack on the counter but Ignatius Ganago did not target his shot (22nd) and Johann Lepenant missed his after a nice overflow from Matthis Abline (23rd).
LOSC finds the fault but does not force
Lille ended up gaining momentum and Lopes had to dive into the feet of Benjamin André from six meters (25th). The new Canaries goalkeeper then saw the influential Rémy Cabella place a nice cross attempt on his crossbar and Gudmundsson score with a follow-up rebound to unlock his personal counter this season (1-0, 41st). At the break, Lille seemed to have done the hardest part and could move towards a quiet victory.
Jonathan David during Lille – Nantes, in Ligue 1.
Credit: Getty Images
Except that the Lille people started to purr when they returned from the locker room. They even suffered a huge alert against the combative Nantes who thought they could equalize through Ganago but the Cameroonian goal was refused by the VAR for an offside by Lepenant (48th).
Nantes rewarded
Instead of accelerating again, Lille was once again content to circulate the ball well without wanting to hurt and the match fell into a false rhythm. Kombouaré launched Mostafa Mohamed for an offensive change (63rd) while his men always remained serious and united in defense. This choice paid off for the coach who found himself in an ejection seat in December.
Mohamed provoked a foul from Bafodé Diakité in the Lille area and Abline coolly converted the penalty (1-1, 70th). The hard-hitting former Rennais even almost scored twice following a shot passed near the top corner (72nd). Lille, for their part, never knew how to move forward and their center forward Jonathan David finished the match without hitting on goal. LOSC continues its 18th meeting without defeat in all competitions but did not work hard enough to obtain better than a second consecutive draw in L1 and get off to a good start to its year 2025.
