Ligue 1: Lille still wants to dream of the Champions League

Achievements, a competent coach, a scorer in form... Despite their defeat in Monaco, Lille has every chance of winning a direct ticket to the Champions League, a quest which continues in Metz on Sunday (1:00 p.m.).

LOSC has suffered two blows in recent weeks that are as heavy to their bodies as they are to their heads. First the elimination in the quarter-finals of the Europa Conference League against Aston Villa on penalties at home, after having managed one of their best matches of the season, then the defeat at Monaco (1-0 ) Wednesday, in a summit for Europe.

But the northern club, fourth (52 points) and therefore virtually qualified for the preliminary rounds of the C1, remains well in the race for the podium, a direct springboard towards the competition, one point just behind Brest. At this stage, the Mastiffs are engaged in a duel with the Brestois, Monaco (second 58 points) being far ahead, Nice (fifth, 48 points) far behind.

The failures in C4 and on the Rock should not make us forget the series of six matches without defeats that they punctuated. During this and the great match against the Villans, several players emerged to the point of creating a typical team: Nabil Bentaleb asserted himself as the technical boss of the midfield, Bafodé Diakité the ideal complement to Leny Yoro , Tiago Santos the essential starter at the right-back position, and Gabriel Gudmundsson the man of big matches.-

Muzzled by Villa and Monaco, scorer Jonathan David is currently enjoying great success. After a difficult start to the season, the Canadian returned to his best level, piling up goals (17 in total in the league, twelve since the start of the year). Always very important in the defensive work of his team, the N.9 will still be the lethal weapon of the Mastiffs on the front of the attack, in Metz, before probably leaving this summer.

Another key player at the club could leave the North at the end of the season: coach Paulo Fonseca, architect of Lille's possession game and respected tactician. At the end of his contract, the Portuguese refuses to comment on his future for the moment, but he admits that “The end of the season will be important for his future”. We guess that a place in the Champions League could convince him to stay, while L'Équipe affirms that he is the priority of Olympique de Marseille.

Before this deadline, Fonseca chained tactical moves and managed to get the best out of his group. His experience from last season, where LOSC finished fifth rather than fourth due to an embarrassing draw at Troyes on the last day, may allow the Mastiffs to finish better.

However, several shadows appear on the table. First there are the injuries. Arriving during the winter transfer market to relieve Jonathan David, Andrej Ilic was almost immediately injured. The scorer is always away from the pitch.

There are also those who are missing: Ignacio Miramon, Rafael Fernandes, and to a certain extent Samuel Umtiti, still injured, but who no longer seems in Fonseca's plans anyway.

Even more worrying, captain Benjamin André had to give up his place before the hour mark on Wednesday in Monaco, injured. Crucial in the balance and moral standing of the Lille group, André would be a great loss if he were to be absent in Metz.