Lillevs.Toulouse

Les Dogues stunned European football by beating Champions League holders and 15-time winners Real Madrid here at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy on Wednesday.

Match preview

After sadly no fans could be in attendance to witness Lille's heroic title win in 2020-21, Wednesday night was one to cherish for everyone linked to the club.

Seeing their club go toe-to-toe with the juggernaut that is Real Madrid and come out on top will have more than made up for their absence during the miraculous title win three years ago.

An excellent first-half performance saw Bruno Genesio's side finally rewarded with an opening goal late in the half thanks to Jonathan David's penalty, before LOSC fought for their lives in the latter stages.

Goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier and young full-back Tiago Santos were the heroes, blocking goalbound efforts from Jude Bellingham to get them over the line late on, as they made up for losing away to Sporting Lisbon on matchday one.

The result was even more surprising considering Lille's rather slow start to the season, which did see them go on a four-game losing run last month.

A 3-0 win over Le Havre evidently got them back on track ahead of Wednesday's match though, and moved them up into fifth, but they are already six points adrift of the leaders.

Genesio's men now face a Toulouse side they have encountered some trouble against recently, despite often having a fantastic record against them.

Lille have lost two of their last six meetings at home with TFC, despite losing only two of the 28 that preceded that run, and in general, just one win from five at home in Ligue 1 is a slight cause for concern.

There are no worries in attack though, as Lille have scored three goals in both of their past two Ligue 1 games, and could make it three in a row here for the first time since the 2015-16 season.

Like Lille, Toulouse had their own red-letter day last season, beating Liverpool in the Europa League, but it has been a miserable start to the season in comparison.

Five points and five goals in six games is Toulouse's joint-worst start for 21 years, and they had a very frustrating experience at home to struggling Lyon last weekend after initially taking the lead.

Malick Fofana's 95th-minute winner sank Toulouse in a 2-1 defeat, with that late strike being Lyon's only shot on target of the match

That was almost as stress-inducing as their 2-0 loss at Brest a week earlier, as Carles Martinez saw his side miss a penalty, amass an xG of 2.1 and still draw a blank.

Another below-par performance in the final third could condemn them to three straight league defeats for the first time in 18 months here, and they will enter as the big outsiders.

Lille Ligue 1 form:

W

W

L

L

D

W

Lille form (all competitions):

L

L

L

D

W

W

Toulouse Ligue 1 form:

D

D

L

W

L

L

Team News

Lille will be able to welcome back namesakes Andre Gomes and Angel Gomes, after the former was not registered to feature against Real Madrid, while the latter was suspended.

Hakon Arnar Haraldsson will be out until November with a foot injury, while defensive duo Ismaily and Samuel Umtiti are both sidelined with knee issues.

David's penalty in midweek kept up his duopoly with Edon Zhegrova of scoring all of Lille's goals of late, as the nine scored by Les Dogues have all come via those two (David with five, Zhegrova with four.)

Toulouse's Zakaria Aboukhlal is going through a crisis of confidence at present, and was the guilty party in missing a penalty against Brest, meaning the visiting attacking line should stay the same without him here.

Shavy Babicka has also struggled to make his mark since breaking into the side though, blanking in both of his starts so far, after netting in three straight games as a sub before that.

Yann Gboho has been the bright spark this season, scoring two and assisting one of their five Ligue 1 goals so far, and should start on the left-hand side of attack.

Lille possible starting lineup:

Chevalier; Tiago Santos, Diakite, Alexsandro, Gudmundsson; Andre Gomes, Andre, Angel Gomes; Zhegrova, David, Sahraoui

Toulouse possible starting lineup:

Restes; Sidibe, Nicolaisen, McKenzie; Kamanzi, Sierro, Casseres, Donnum; Babicka, Magri, Gboho

We say: Lille 2-0 Toulouse

Despite some shaky recent home form, Lille have lost just three of their last 36 home Ligue 1 games and have scored in 16 consecutive matches at the Pierre-Mauroy against their upcoming opponents, so will be the big favourites, especially after their midweek antics.

Previews by email