It is officially possible to lose in Ligue 1 against a promoted Saint-Etienne in distress (1-0) then to defeat the reigning European champion three weeks later (1-0), undefeated for 36 matches in all competitions. So is the Losc of Bruno Genesio, who offered himself this Wednesday quite a distinction becoming the third manager, after Diego Simeone and Jürgen Klopp, to beat both Pep Guardiola, José Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti on the European stage.
Faller of Real Madrid in the Champions League, the former OL coach preferred to immediately refocus the performance on his group: “What my team has achieved is incredible”. And how, despite a very serious team lined up from the outset, including Rüdiger, Valverde, Bellingham and Vinicius, then Kylian Mbappé for the last 40 minutes, the Merengue struggled for a long time to endanger these bluffing Lille players. “We could have equalized at the end but it would not have been deserved,” admitted Carlo Ancelotti, with his usual fair play.
Huge Bouaddi… on his 17th birthday!
Losc had perfectly prepared its affair, as the only scorer of the evening (1-0, 45th + 2 from the penalty spot), the Canadian Jonathan David, confided on Canal +: “You had to believe in the feat. We all believed in it, we respected the game plan, and there was success today. I don’t realize yet, it’s an unforgettable evening that we’re going to savor.” Benjamin André’s partners would be wrong to deprive themselves of it, as there is no shortage of great stories on this occasion.
Impressively mature, Ayyoub Bouaddi shined in the midfield for his first start in C1… on his 17th birthday! We were treated to everything, from Edon Zhegrova’s confusing dribbles to Tiago Santos’ supersonic breakthroughs, including Lucas Chevalier’s series of heroic saves, the day before Didier Deschamps’ list.
“Perhaps the greatest victory in the history of the club”
“In twenty years, when I have stopped, I will be able to say that I beat Real at home,” laughed the promising goalkeeper in the interview area. It’s not a hold-up, everyone did great, even if at the end, we shuddered a little. When it became the table football in my area, I said to myself that perhaps we had a little star above our heads. » Because if they were mostly harmless, the Madrilenians accumulated three solid gold opportunities in the last four minutes. But Bellingham, Rüdiger and Güler met a Knight in a state of grace.
Our file on the Champions League
“I want to say that it’s historic,” continues the 22-year-old Lille goalkeeper. This Real is perhaps the best team of the last twenty years. It is therefore a personal pride to have foiled these players. The spectators had stars in their eyes, it was perhaps the greatest victory in the club’s history. Everyone must measure their chance of experiencing this. » Concerning the 48,205 spectators present this Wednesday at Pierre-Mauroy, Lucas Chevalier has nothing to worry about: each of them understood that they were participating in the evening of a lifetime as a Losc enthusiast.