Lille 1-0 Real Madrid: David penalty earns Lille a famous win over reigning champions
Lille 1-0 Real Madrid: David penalty earns Lille a famous win over reigning champions. Champions League holders Real Madrid fell to a disappointing defeat at the hands of Lille on Wednesday night in what was a first ever meeting between the clubs.
The reigning European champions had started quite well on matchday one against Stuttgart last time out, but did struggled to find any sort of attacking rhythm or consistent threat during the clash with Lille.
Too many players dressed in white underwhelmed, with Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior and Endrick flying too much under the radar. Kylian Mbappe and Luka Modric couldn’t save the Los Blancos from the bench either.
For their part, Lille played with confidence like they deserved to share this stage with the mighty Madrid. The game plan was careful, considered and perfectly executed. It was by no means a backs to the wall job, but it was a solitary Jonathan David penalty that earned the French outfits the famous win over Madrid.
How the game unfolded;
Madrid’s pressing earned their first chance of the night, a sighter from Vinicius Junior after the ball was won high up pitch, but a relatively simple save for Lille’s Lucas Chevalier. Yet the visitors didn’t build on that moment and, if anything, Lille looked the more at ease as things progressed.
Neither side had another chance until Endrick spied a gap and surged through it, but was only able to hit the eventual finish into the body of Chevalier as the goalkeeper rushed out.
Lille had an even better opportunity to break the deadlock than that when Andriy Lunin was equal to David’s close-range header, but then got up to turn the Canadian striker’s rebound effort onto the post.
Lille’s brave approach was rewarded in first half stoppage time when David converted from the spot. Eduardo Camavinga, who had been routinely shutting down attacks, was their way in when the ball caught a stray arm and, after a VAR intervention, a penalty was the result.
Madrid almost had an instant equaliser, but Chevalier was again out quick to stop Vinicius Junior from getting his shot away cleanly. Endrick’s follow-up missed the target, albeit via an unseen deflection.
Lille remained the strong side in the opening exchanges of the second half, prompting Carlo Ancelotti to throw caution to the wind and put both Mbappe and Modric into the game. Endrick, for whom it was a tough night other than his one self-made chance, was hooked.
Even with the changes, Madrid still weren’t clicking in the final third and chances remained few and far between. Dani Carvajal was an unlikely source of one when he flicked on a right-footed cross from Vinicius Junior that didn’t miss the target by that much.
Madrid looked like they’d got off the hook on a couple of occasions late on, first as substitute Arda Guler’s far post caused mayhem and Antonio Rudiger saw his attempt scrambled off the line, before Chevalier did enough to deny Jude Bellingham. From the resultant corner, Rudiger was foiled again. But the final whistle came to the delight of the home fans without any kind of mad onslaught.
