The Pierre-Mauroy stadium has gone out, little by little, as LOSC lost the thread of the meeting, its advantage in the scoring and its dreams to compete in the first quarter-final of the Champions League in its history. Incandescent at the start of the match, magnified by the 50,000 Lille supporters, Villeneuve-d’Ascq’s setting was full in silence on Wednesday, March 12, after the defeat of the Dogues against Borussia Dortmund in the round of 16 return (1-2).
The disappointment is up to the issue: immense. The first leg carrier (1-1), the exploits against Real Madrid (1-0) and Atlético (3-1) earlier in the season, this feeling of levitation in each C1 match … Everything was believing that it was the season or never to do it. Instead, as in 2007 and 2021, the Lille stumbled on this cursed glass ceiling from the round of 16 which continues to torment them.
The first period had however suggested a radiant outcome. The Dogues had not made forty-five flamboyant minutes, far from it, but they seemed to be supported by Providence. Thanks to the blunder of Gregor Kobel, who clumsily let the ball spin between his legs, Jonathan David had opened the scoring (5ᵉ). The continuation was even more miraculous, between the rescue on his line of Alexsandro (17ᵉ), the insane parades of Lucas Chevalier (19ᵉ, 20ᵉ) and this immense baking panel marked by a new clearance in front of his goals by Benjamin André (20ᵉ).
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