In the cold of Geoffroy-Guichard, the LOSC managed to emerge unscathed from a situation where it was badly embarked on Sunday evening. Here he is still firmly attached to his second place, two points behind the Parisian leader.
As in Brest, three weeks ago, Lille woke up after the break. The point was acquired by a man who was no longer expected during the evening and who saved her with a gesture. Wonderfully served by a deflection of Burak Yilmaz’s chest, Jonathan Ikoné equalized with a cross shot at ground level (1-1, 65 ‘).
A contentious penalty for Saint-Étienne
At halftime, Galtier’s men were not leading. Beaten in envy and aggressiveness by Stéphanois eager to get out of their negative spiral (seven consecutive defeats), they conceded a goal shortly after half an hour of play. Domagoj Bradaric paid dearly for a technical error in his area of repair.
His handover of the head back for his goalkeeper was too soft. Wahbi Khazri was rushing to intercept and Mr. Bastien felt there was a fault. The Saint-Étienne striker did not miss the opportunity by placing the ball out of reach of Mike Maignan (1-0, 32 ‘).
Six changes from Milan
This is not the only arbitration decision that has given rise to challenge. Seven minutes after returning from the locker room, following a recovery from Boubakary Soumaré, Luiz Araujo started on goal before being illegally stopped by Mathieu Debuchy. The Stéphanois could have been sent off and Lille were awarded a penalty.
The referee did not find it necessary to consult the VAR. The ASSE defender came off with a warning when, to Galtier’s anger, LOSC had to settle for a free kick. It is perhaps in this injustice that the Northerners drew their strength to come back to the score.
” We must not hide behind the argument of physical fatigue », Had admitted between the two periods Benjamin André. The Mastiffs coach had made six changes to kick off from Thursday’s game. His right side had been reshaped with the first tenures of Tiago Djalo and Isaac Lihadji.
Yilmaz’s influence
The young Portuguese defender has fared better than his team-mate. Domagoj Bradaric made his return to the left. Boubakary Soumaré and Jonathan Ikoné inherited a new chance. The upstart international was associated with Burak Yilmaz in attack.
The duo were therefore able to bring the LOSC up to Saint-Étienne on the scoreboard. This second half was mainly played in the camp of the Greens, who had the merit of hanging on until the end. The entries of Jonathan Bamba and Yusuf Yazici brought a second wind. But the people of Lille were often muddled in the last gesture.
They still had two opportunities to get past. Before the equalizer, Benjamin André found the bar (61st). And on one of his crosses, an instant recovery from Burak Yilmaz came close to the top of Jessy Moulin (75 ‘). What regrets.
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