After suffering a surprise 3-1 defeat at home to BATE Borisov, many people have questioned the Ligue 1 side’s ability to win games after a poor start to the new campaign
The Grand Stade Metropole, home of Ligue 1 giants http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lille-OSC-c39800 waited for its first chills of the Champions League music last night and chills there were – but mostly the ones associated with horror as Les Dogues simply lost their first Champions League game
of the season in the first period of the game against Belarusian minnows, BATE Borisov.
Conceding three goals in one half is not something people expect from Rudi Garcia’s side. Despite making a promising start to the game, Lille conceded a goal as flood gates opened. Although Aurelien Chedjou restored some pride by scoring in the second half,
the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Cameroon-c2865 international’s strike turned out to be a mere consolation for a side that has made a very indifferent start on the domestic front.
Lille perhaps took the game against the Belarusian very lightly and their body language showed exactly that. Last season too, the French outfit bowed out of the competition in group phases so a good start to the new campaign was of paramount importance.
Now, Lille need to start putting together all the pieces if they are to avoid another humiliating exit from the tournament. Furthermore, the club needs to play in the Champions League regularly in order to survive alongside the likes of PSG and Lyon.
A slap, a cold shower and then another slap, words cannot fail to describe the incredibly appalling disillusionment experienced by Lille last night. The Mastiffs were full of great intentions, wanting to make a strong start to the new European season. However,
there was nothing they could do about it as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Marvin-Martin-c24496 and the rest of his teammates literally were hit by cold water on their faces by a BATE Borisov side that had a perfectly planned coup.
Alexander Hleb and co simply tormented Rudi Garcia’s side. Since the beginning of the season, people in France talked up Lille’s chances of doing well in the competition this time around. However, it appears that losing the man with the silver chalice in
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Eden-Hazard-c11863 has cost the club a lot.
Lacking a creative player in the midfield, Lille have not really raised their fans’ spirits by their performances. And, captain http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/France-c2899 international says that they dropped points which has complicated
things.
Aware of the difficulties that will follow after the loss, Rudi Garcia has refused to give in to pessimism but admits that there are a lot of deficiencies in the side.
“We must be careful about the post-match analysis, we will review the videos for more accurate analysis. But I think we could have done much better in the first period. Fortunately, we had pride and self-esteem in the second half. The Belarusians were effective
in the first half. This is the worst start we could have done. We’ll have to defy the odds.”
Now, Lille will play http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Valencia-c40863 in their next Champions League game before taking on last season’s finalists, Bayern Munich. Although the task is not insurmountable, realistically, Lille are now up against it against two of the best teams in Europe.
The defeat at the hands of BATE is a demoralising one and one can only hope that they turn things around before it’s too late.
Disclaimer: views in this article are the writer’s own and don’t reflect bettor.com’s editorial policy
Tags: