Lille offered himself an important victory, which allows him to recover from the setback of a week ago at the hands of Lorient and to regain ground in the main positions of the League 1. It was 1-0 lensfourth in the standings, at Stade Pierre-Mauroy.

Those led by Portuguese Paulo Fonseca had to go through a complex first half, during which their rival had chances to get ahead on the scoreboard in the 13th minute, but Florian Sotoca missed the penalty he had at his feet before Lucas Chevalier stopped.

In addition, this first stage took place with a lot of friction to the point that the referee François Letexier distributed three yellow cards per side. Meanwhile, Jonathan David gave the first warning with a finish at 25′, which forced the intervention of Brice Samba.

Before the break, Canadian David hit the visitor with a shot to the bottom right corner to smash Villeneuve-d’Ascq’s field goal. For the 22-year-old striker, it was the seventh goal of the tournament.

The complement acquired greater intensity, with a first occasion that had Adam Ounas as author, followed by another approach by André Gomes. Lens responded with the arrivals of Jimmy Cabot and Seko Fofana, but neither did what was needed for the tie.

Alexis Claude-Maurice also tried to break down local resistance, although Chevalier again frustrated the visit. The chances dwindled for them and that’s when the host came back into prominence: Gomes fired a shot that went past the left post and Timothy Weah nearly made history on the hour mark after chaining a cross.

Lille climbs to 7th place in the table of the French championship with 16 points, there are now 10 which separate them from the leader PSG and the next day they will have to deal with Strasbourg as a visitor. While Lens, which stopped at 21 units, will host Montpellier.

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Other results:

Montpellier 0-Monaco 2

Nice 3-Troyes 2

Rennes 3-Nantes 0

Angers 2-Strasbourg 3

Brest 1-Lorient 2

Clermont 2-Auxerre 1

Photo: FRANCOIS LO PRESTI/AFP via Getty Images