The Northern derby between RC Lens and LOSC, played at the Bollaert stadium for the 9th day of Ligue 1, offered an intense duel, marked by great combativeness. Lille opens hostilities with a strike from Edon Zhegrova, which flies over Brice Samba’s cages. Lens responded quickly with an attempt from Anass Zaroury, brilliantly stopped by Lille goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier, impeccable against the multiple Lens offensives. His vigilance is also demonstrated when he intercepts a threatening pass for M’Bala Nzola.
Lens imprints its rhythm on the match, favoring short passes to monopolize the ball and dictate the tempo. Lille struggles to break this control and is forced to defend, with few real opportunities. The Mastiffs, however, tried to break through the defense, notably through Zhegrova, whose nice slalom in the area was finally foiled by Samba. The first period ended with Lens clearly dominating in terms of possession (63% against 37%) and shot attempts, with the locals scoring three of their seven shots against only one of Lille’s two shots.
The Mastiffs overthrow Lens
In the second half, Lille sought to rebalance the match, in particular with Osame Sahraoui who found himself in a good position in the area, but his shot was stopped by the Lens defense. The intensity remains high until the end, but attempts to break the deadlock fail.
The end of the match changes with a series of decisive events. At 90+4′, a handball from Kevin Danso in the area awarded Lille a penalty, confirmed after video assistance. Jonathan David calmly converts the opportunity with a shot placed at the right post (0-1, 90+8′). A few minutes later, Mohamed Bayo, on an individual action, doubled the lead with a precise shot into the lower left corner (0-2, 90+11′). Lens saw its hopes fade, while Benoît Bastien sent Nzola a yellow card for unsporting behavior in the final seconds.
LOSC leaves victorious, winning 2-0 in this committed derby where the tension continued to rise until the final whistle.
