They would no doubt have signed to be there when, at the end of August, Lille Olympique Sporting Club (LOSC) struggled in the throes of a post-coronation recovery. Two weeks after a reassuring entry into the Champions League – a draw (0-0) hardly rewarded against Wolfsburg – and carried by two successes in a row in the league, the Lille move with ambition in the lair of the Red Bull Salzburg, Wednesday September 29.
Faced with the ogre of the Austrian championship (nine successes in as many matches in the league), a great provider of European gratin in talented players, the teammates of captain José Fonte are aiming for a first victory this season in Europe, which would allow them to take the right wagon, in a group where no opponent is of the caliber of a great European. “Everyone has the slab”, summarizes the striker Timothy Weah.
Reassured after Strasbourg (2-1 victory), LOSC aspires to follow up in Salzburg. In Mozart’s hometown, Jocelyn Gourvennec’s orchestra intends to deliver a new score in unison. “We want to continue, the team is hungry. We have more consistency, we have to confirm it in each match, insisted the Breton technician on Tuesday. For us, the goal will be to continue to be balanced, to play as a team, to be intense. “ Qualities that allowed Lille to be crowned last year in Ligue 1 under the nose and beard of PSG, but that the team had somewhat lost since the resumption, transition requires – new coach, departures of executives …
“Collectively harder”
“The players have realized what we have to do on a regular basis. To be more constant, harder, stronger collectively ”, insists Gourvennec, who took over the reins of the northern club after the departure of Christophe Galtier in the offseason. Especially since their opponent, Wednesday, promises to respond.
“We are Austrian champions, our team is young; Lille are champions of France, they are more experienced, they are the favorites ”, recalled Matthias Jaissle, the coach of Salzburg, way of leaving the pressure on the shoulders of the Mastiffs. Still, in the light of the continental performance of the flagship team of the energy drink Red Bull (with RB Leipzig, opponents of PSG in group A), the LOSC advance piano against Salzburg.
“They are always very good in the European Cup, they have the opportunity to focus on the Champions League, because they are much better than the others in their championship”, had exposed the coach of Sevilla FC, Julen Lopetegui, two weeks ago, before the meeting between the two teams. If, like LOSC against Wolfsburg, the Austrian champion left Andalusia in a draw (1-1), the partners of the twirling German striker Karim Adeyemi had missed two of their three penalties obtained.
Proven know-how
With a proven know-how in the formation of nuggets irrigating European football, like the Norwegian striker Erling Haaland (now at Borussia Dortmund), the pennant team of the energy drink hardly has a bottle: only three of the twenty-four players used this year exceed the 24 springs. “The team is young, but our players have already been able to gain some experience [en Ligue des champions] Last year “, nuance Andreas Ulmer, captain of the Austrians.
And Jocelyn Gourvennec is not mistaken. “Few teams came to win [à Salzbourg], they are mostly very big teams, like Bayern or Napoli, and not many others ”, insists the Lille coach, placing his team in a role of “Challenger”. The results of the LOSC in the Champions League do not allow anything else: we have to go back nine years – and three Champions League campaigns – to find Lille’s last victory in the queen competition in Europe.
In a homogeneous group – on paper – and where no team emerges as a favorite, Lille has a card to play. After having recovered in the direction of the championship, and having returned to the incessant pressing, the aggressiveness and the ability to project at full speed towards the opposing goal, the hallmark of its champion year, the LOSC wants be zealous and aspires to definitively launch his season in Austria.