Ligue 1 – Lille-Lyon | OL, permanent miracle: “The coach told us that, given where we came from…”

Twenty-four, OL have now collected 24 points after conceding the opener in Ligue 1 this season, including 22 since the arrival of Pierre Sage as a firefighter on duty for a club which was promised the hell and who flies to paradise as soon as he can in recent weeks. The local man has had fewer quiet matches than wild successes. With him, OL have changed to the point of becoming the popcorn team of the season, all with an expanded group in which the replacements know how to be decisive.

This Monday evening in Lille, OL could only have made their mark for the Coupe de France final which awaits them at Pierre-Mauroy against PSG at the end of the month. He did better than that by gaining incredible confidence at the end of a match that was no less so. “When we came back to 2-2 and they made it 3-2, we said to ourselves that the story had perhaps been too good until then but no. We still had the necessary resources“, summarized Pierre Sage but nothing is too good for this OL who indulge in all the madness.

How was he able to come back from hell after a catastrophic first period, defensively but also offensively? “When we came back from halftime, we felt like we could do something. We score this first goal which is good for the mindhands over General Lacazette. The coach had good words. he told us we couldn’t give up now given where we came from. He had the right and useful words to wake up the team.”

If Paulo Fonseca, the Lille coach, summed up the second period by pointing the finger at his team which “didn’t want to play anymore“, OL knew how to step into the breach and never gave up, neither their heads nor their arms.

Is he used to this kind of scenario now? Is it less friable when the air becomes rarer in money-time? “There is no recipeSage refutes. The only thing we said to each other at half-time and that we said at the end of the match, when there is a trickle of oxygen left, there is still life. And as long as there is life, there is hope.” And since OL were able to make an XXL recruitment in the winter transfer window, they rely on a solid group in quantity.

Of the seven matches that OL overturned in 2024 in Ligue 1, five were thanks to the help of replacements:

• Metz (1-2): Saïd Benrahma scores in the 60th (entered at the break)
• Toulouse (2-3): Rayan Cherki scores in the 77th and offers the winning goal to Jake O’Brien in the 81st (entered play in the 66th)
• Nantes (1-3): Malick Fofana and Gift Orban score in the 77th and 90th +7 (entered play in the 75th and 86th)
• Monaco (3-2): Malick Fofana scores in the 84th (entered play in the 66th)
• Lille (3-4): Malick Fofana and Mama Baldé score in the 82nd and 90th + 2 (entered play in the 67th and 79th)

“The group lives well, they laughgreeted Lacazette before paying tribute to these men who play little but who are so important. It’s complicated for them, it’s not easy to work a whole week and say to yourself that you’re going to play 20, 10 or 5 minutes. They put their moods aside, it’s strong. They help the team because they know it is for their own good. Bravo to them for having this mentality.”

Seventh in Ligue 1, Lyon (47 points) is tickling the ankles of Lens (49 points) for the 6th qualifying place for the Europa Conference League but by remaining in this place, it would already ensure a European presence next season since A PSG victory in the Coupe de France would shift the allocation of tickets. A miracle there too since on the evening of the 15th day, OL were dead last. And to the drunkenness, the Lyonnais add a hell of a bottle. Sage concludes: “It’s football we love, that’s why people watch.”