Ligue 1 – 28th day: Lille and Saint-Étienne share the points after a locked match (0-0)

Lille does not continue its recovery. While they had the opportunity to return to the Top 5 in the event of victory, the Mastiffs stumbled on Saint-Etienne (0-0) after a dull meeting and poor in scoring opportunities. Five days before facing Chelsea in the knockout stages of the Champions League, Jocelyn Gourvennec’s players were not reassured and lost Renato Sanches to an injury behind the left thigh. ASSE pockets a precious point in its maintenance operation.

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The final whistle was greeted by the bronca of the Pierre-Mauroy stadium, disappointed with the performance offered by its players. A legitimate frustration as Lille have only too rarely brought danger into the Saint-Etienne area. Apart from a slightly livelier end to the first period, marked by a strike from Zeki Çelik on the post after a poor recovery from Falaye Sacko (40th), the key word of the evening was inefficiency. André Onana missed the second big opportunity for the Northerners by not framing his header following a cross from Gabriel Gundmundsson (48th).

For the rest, not much to see. 10 shots from Lille, 11 from Saint-Etienne, i.e. 21 attempts in total. A figure that can suggest a spectacular match. It was quite different. Blame it on this damn inefficiency. Because of the 21 shots seen this Friday evening, only 5 were framed. Not enough to worry excessively Paul Bernardoni and Léo Jardim. Especially since his return to the Lille goal after the debacle against PSG suffered by Ivo Grbic, the Brazilian has not conceded a single goal in five days of Ligue 1. The only positive point of the Lille evening.

The Renato Sanches tile

As bad news never comes alone, Lille also suffered a blow midway through the first half. On a run forward, Renato Sanches held the back of his left thigh and was never able to continue this encounter. Replaced by André Onana (25th), the Portuguese is therefore anything but certain of being able to hold his place against Chelsea. While waiting for the other results of the weekend, LOSC, which has 43 points, climbs to sixth place, one unit behind Strasbourg.

If Saint-Etienne has not won in the North since 1993, it is the fourth consecutive draw between the two teams in Ligue 1. The spectators of Geoffroy-Guichard attend 1-1 while the meetings at Pierre-Mauroy are goalless. But for the players of Forez, who are fighting for their survival in the elite, this point collected on the lawn of the reigning French champion is almost worth a victory. Here they are provisionally sixteenth with two points ahead of Lorient (18th).

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Denis Bouanga (Saint-Etienne) against Lille / Ligue 1

Credit: Imago

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