Lille vs Real Madrid

In this Wednesday night’s champions league match the Stade Pierre-Mauroy is set to co-host the first ever Lille vs Real Madrid fixture.

Primera division defending champions Real Madrid began on a bright note by thrashing Stuttgart in their first match while Lille bounced back into European football elite after a disastrous campaign last season following their humiliation in Portugal.

Real Madrid, whose campaign in this competition has been an unbeaten one thus far, followed their opening day triumph here with victories against Espanyol and Alaves.

However in one of the biggest fixtures of the weekend, Los Blancos drew a match point in a match which was plagued by chants and fighting to Atletico Madrid.

Concerning troubles in the crowd, the game was stopped for a few minutes in the second half of when Real was leading 1-0, and when Atletico returned on the field, Angel Correa scored in the 5th minute of added time.

Barcelona’s unexpected loss at Osasuna does mean that Real have drawn up to within three points, but perhaps no more than that had they been able to cling on for the final few minutes of the match.

Focus will now turn to their preferred tournament, as the 15-time champions head to France in a bid to arrest a current two match losing streak in the country, both of which came at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain.

It would be a first clash between the two sides, however, the new manager of Napoli Carlo Ancelotti had less successful record against Lille as he won only two of their five previous meetings.

Real are however, unbeaten in their last 14 champions League games- winning 10 in them and could equal the record set by Zinedine Zidane April 2016- May 2017 which was the 15 the undefeated run.

But the holders' incredible run will be put to the test in this league phase as they have two extremely difficult journeys to Atalanta and Liverpool later in the season.

Lille will be happy to have snapped a recent losing streak at the weekend before this crucial match, and they will be hoping to be the team to stop that run.

After losing 2-0 on the road against Sporting Lisbon, Bruno Genesio's team was the only French team to fail in the opening round of play. A few days later, they dropped further points in the league.

They gave up a 2-0 lead and extended their winless streak to five games in a 3-3 draw with Strasbourg, but they ended that drought at the weekend at Le Havre with a performance reminiscent of Jonathan David.

Just in time for the arrival of the European champions, Les Dogues defeated the Canadians 3-0 at Stade Oceane, with the Canadian scoring a treble to end their longest losing streak in more than six years.

With the caliber of the opposition, that confidence boost might still be in vain, but Lille has won seven of their last eight home games in Europe since the beginning of the previous campaign, with a 1-1 draw against Sturm Graz serving as the lone loss.

They triumphed over Sevilla 2-1 in this competition in 2021, ending an eight-game losing streak against Spanish clubs. This was their most recent meeting with a Spanish team.
Due to a foot ailment, Lille will continue to be without their key young midfield player Hakon Arnar Haraldsson. Meanwhile, Angel Gomes, who recently made his England debut, will serve a suspension following his red card against Sporting.

Fortunately for Genesio, he has two players who are on fire: Edon Zhegrova, a wide player, and David, a central striker, have combined for Lille's previous eight goals, scoring four goals apiece.