“Such a series says a lotadmitted Arne Slot about the work carried out by his counterpart Bruno Genesio. I’m impressed, but not surprised. Two or three years ago I faced him and I was already impressed by his team. This season I saw them beat Atlético and Real Madrid. I’ve seen a lot of games from them and they deserved all the points they took.”
The thirteen points taken (out of 18) in the Champions League were nevertheless unexpected before the start of the competition. But with a judicious transfer window (Fernandez-Pardo, Meunier, Mukau or Sahraoui), managers in good shape (Jonathan David, Zhegrova, Tiago Santos, Benjamin André, Alexandro), several young people full of talent (Bouaddi, Haraldsson) and a phenomenal goalkeeper (Lucas Chevalier), Bruno Genesio had the ideal raw material to mold a team to his ideas.
And after six months, the former coach of Rennes and Lyon won more than half of the matches played (16/30). Unheard of among all its predecessors in the 21st century. By beating Real Madrid in October, he also became the second manager in history to win against Pep Guardiola, José Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Diego Simeone on the European scene. Only Jürgen Klopp did it before him.
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The only downside for these Genesio version of Lille is the difficulties encountered against more modest Ligue 1 teams. The recent splits against Auxerre or Nantes bear witness to this. “When we play very good teams, we have more space than when we play lower ranked or presumed weaker teams who have a very compact block. It’s also much more difficult to find solutions and situations to score goals.”justifies the 58-year-old coach, ready to do battle with Anfield.
-gullThis is the biggest challenge of this season.
“It’s the biggest challenge of this season and we have prepared mentally, physically and tactically. I want my team to show the same face as before”motivates the Lille boss, who therefore does not intend to change his style to contain the attacks of Mohamed Salah’s gang. “I expect an open matchanalyse Arne Slot. They press high on every team they play, so it’s a change in style from the teams we’ve faced recently. Lille doesn’t hesitate to come from behind and that’s what I expect.”
This Tuesday evening could be the end of LOSC’s record series, but not of its splendid season and its beautiful history in the Champions League, which will continue whatever happens in the next round.
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