Last week, Lille went 21 games in a row without defeat, a club record, eliminated Marseille in the Coupe de France (1-1, 3-4 on the tabs) and beat Nice in Ligue 1 (2-1). Everything has since collapsed with a defeat at Anfield against Liverpool (2-1) then a painful setback this Saturday against Strasbourg (2-1).
It only took a handful of minutes for Strasbourg to overthrow the Mastiffs, who had been slow for several weeks in Ligue 1 despite their unbeaten run. With a volley from outside the area, Andrey Santos scored his 8th goal of the season and equalized (70th, 1-1). In the process, Emmanuel Emegha, another strong man of the Alsatians, scored with a header at the far post (74th, 2-1).
First entry of the season for Florent Malouda’s son
However, LOSC had started its meeting well, under a terrible deluge at La Meinau. Osame Sahraoui combined with Mohamed Bayo and scored after taking advantage of an error from the Strasbourg defense (8th, 0-1). But the Lille club was not able to take a significant advantage in the first period, and exposed itself to the opposing revolt. The entry of Aaron Malouda, son of Florent, at the end of the match (89th), changed nothing.
This defeat is far from doing the business of Bruno Génésio’s team. Fourth in Ligue 1 after AS Monaco’s victory this Saturday against Rennes (3-2), it could even be overtaken by Nice if the Aiglons succeed against OM on Sunday (8:45 p.m.).
