Ligue 1 – 27th day: Lille explodes Clermont (4-0) and replaces

The champions of France took their revenge on the promoted Auvergne. Beaten in the first leg (1-0), LOSC this time corrected Clermont on Sunday during the 27th day of Ligue 1 (4-0). If Jonathan Bamba quickly scored (3rd), it was not until the expulsion of Salis Abdul Samed (68th) to see the Mastiffs make the break by Jonathan David (71st) then unfold with goals from Zeki Çelik (84th) and Edon Zhegrova (90th). Like its scorers, Lille needed to regain confidence and climbed to 7th place.

With Hatem Ben Arfa once again, the Mastiffs started the match foot to the floor and it quickly paid off. Thanks to high pressing, Renato Sanches was served at the right angle of the opposing area and dropped his cross towards Bamba, present at the far post for the opener (1-0, 3rd). The player trained in Saint-Etienne has finally unlocked his goal counter this season, after 49 matches in all competitions since last year. He logically relaxed while his partners made their technical superiority speak.

Bamba spun to the left of the opposing area but missed his shot, while Ben Arfa and Sanches were waiting for a pass (10th). It was then Benjamin André who got a huge chance by recovering the ball in front of the opposing area before stumbling on the reactive Ouparine Djoco (17th). Alone at six meters after a corner, the former Rennais then placed his head just above the target (29th). At this time, Lille had already retreated and seriously weakened in terms of intentions, allowing Clermont to raise their heads.

The eviction changed everything

The reaction of the Auvergnats was even clearer on the restart and Grejohn Kyei quickly dominated José Fonte in the air in front of Léo Jardim’s cage, but his header ended up just above the frame (46th). Nicely served in the area of ​​the Mastiffs, Elbasan Rashani, he did not manage to wrap his shot from the low right (53rd). The meeting changed forever when Abdul Samed, already warned, received a second logical yellow card for an anti-game foul on Sanches in the center circle (68th).

The Clermontois still wanted to push to try to equalize, but were punished on the left flank of their defense. David missed a recovery at the entrance to the zone of truth (69th) but insisted and shook the nets after a nice job on the right and a relay with sanches (2-0, 71st). The Canadian scored his first goal in 2022, his 13th this season.

If he missed the double (79th), Lille blew up his opponent in the last minutes and Çelik, on the lookout after a shot from Amadou Onana, also unlocked his goal counter (3-0, 85th) . Same thing for the incoming Zhegrova, who arrived this winter, on an axial strike from 20 meters (4-0, 90th). Lille has a second success after the unfortunate one against Lyon (0-1) and a fourth match in L1 without conceding a single goal. Enough to earn serious optimism in the fight for European places.