The defending champion, Lille, snatched the last second draw in Metz (3-3), Sunday August 8, during the first day of Ligue 1. His former coach Christophe Galtier did not have better fortune with Nice, held in check by Reims (0-0).
Lille, the narrow draw
The champion relied on his king: the striker Burak Yilmaz, nicknamed the “Kral” (“king”, in Turkish), struck at the end of additional time (90e+6) to avoid defeat for his team. Led 3-1, Lille, betrayed by their defense, took advantage of the exclusion of Messin Boubakar Kouyaté (55e) to return to the game. Jonathan Ikoné (81e) launched the crazy comeback of the LOSC concluded by Yilmaz, helped by the error of goalkeeper Alexandre Oukidja who deflected the Turkish close-angle shot in his nets.
However, the result remains a bad operation for the ambitious Mastiffs, winners of the Champions Trophy against Paris-Saint-Germain (1-0), last Sunday.
Clermont, the beautiful story
Clermont had a dream afternoon in Bordeaux. The Auvergnats celebrated their first in the elite with a logical success which bears the mark of the home scorer, Mohamed Bayo, born and trained in the prefecture of Puy-de-Dôme.
The top scorer in Ligue 2 last season (22 goals) opened the scoring at the end of the match (82e), before the 2-0 signed Jodel Dossou in stoppage time (90e+3).
“These are moments of pride and happiness, when I see all these people coming from Clermont to support us. When we went to say hello to them at the end, I had tears in my eyes ”, recognized the trainer, Pascal Gastien.
This defeat brings Bordeaux back a few months, when the club fought for maintenance at the end of last season. “If it can make everyone aware that we have no margin, so much the better, because today Clermont has carried us around”, launched goalkeeper Benoît Costil.
Nice and Galtier without imagination
Champion of France with Lille in May, Christophe Galtier started a new challenge this summer in Nice. But to make the Gym a contender for the podium, he still has work to do. His team, without imagination, broke their teeth on that of Reims (0-0), despite the many encouragement of the technician.
In Rennes, the performance of rookie Kamaldeen Sulemana, 19, gives reason to be optimistic for the rest of the summer and the play-offs in the Europa League Conference. The young Ghanaian winger scored a superb goal which, however, was not enough to beat an eye-catching Lensois (1-1).
Draw also between Saint-Etienne and Lorient (1-1). Strasbourg, for the first on the bench of Julien Stéphan, was surprised at home by Angers (2-0).