Resurgent Lille Go from Cellar Dwellers to Champions League Chasers

If any team epitomises the haywire nature of this Ligue 1 campaign outside the bubble of Paris Saint Germain’s supremacy, then it is surely Lille. At the start of February, Les Dogues were three points above the drop zone, and had managed a miserable tally of 18 goals in 23 games. After winning a sixth successive league match at Gazélec Ajaccio on Saturday night, they were just three points short of the top three, and only four points off second place. 

There was a slight tempering of the loftier end of those hopes with Sunday night’s Monaco victory over Marseille, which put the Principality club back into second spot and left Frédéric Antonetti’s team four adrift of the top three. It won’t deflate the mood of the Corsican and nor should it, given his side’s stellar improvement.

Lille’s 4-2 victory on Antonetti’s return to his homeland took their current run of wins to six in a row, and their goal record to an impressive 11 in the last three games. After last week’s 4-1 demolition of the aforementioned Monaco - a masterclass in team defending and slick counterattack - the visit to Gazélec was a potential booby trap for newly-inflated egos.  

Despite falling a long way from their pre-Christmas form, Thierry Laurey’s team remain competitive and, moreover, are fighting for their Ligue 1 lives. That the home team managed 13 efforts at goal (as many as Lille) from only 41.5% of possession, and playing the final 25 minutes a man down after Roderic Filippi was sent off, showed their continuing enterprise.  

So that Lille managed to dig in and remain offensively fluent will please Antonetti immensely. The pinnacle of that attacking effort was, once again, Sofiane Boufal. His expertly taken hat-trick made the difference - and gained him a maximum WhoScored rating of 10 - while the opener to set his team on their way, a thunderous back-post volley from Sébastien Corchia’s cross, will live long in the memory. 

“Only van Basten has ever scored a goal like that!” Antonetti exclaimed with a flourish after the match. He had every right to be elated. Though the brusque coach might scarcely admit it, he has a big hand in Boufal’s current rich vein of form. Predecessor Hervé Renard buttered up the team’s star, telling him how good he was and that he was destined to fly the nest and light up the Premier League in England. 

True to type, Antonetti’s approach has been far different. He has told Boufal to forget about the future and focus on the present, demanding more consistency and more implication from the 22-year-old. Indeed, Antonetti dropped Boufal as recently as a month ago, following a 3-0 trouncing at Montpellier, a brave move before safety was really secured. 

It worked, though. Boufal came on for Yassine Benzia at half-time against Reims and eventually created the game-clinching goal for Éder. That was the first of Lille’s current run of victories and since then both player and team have been untouchable. In the run of consecutive wins, Boufal’s average rating has been 8.43, compared to 7.59 for the season overall.  

Even after his decisive display against Reims, Antonetti went out of his way in his post-game press conference to underline that he wanted more from his star turn. “In two or three months, it’s the best half that I’ve seen him play. It’s a shame to have to get him annoyed to arrive at this point,” said the coach. “A player who’s worth 18 out of 20, like he was tonight, can be 11 or 12 out of 20. With his talent, we have a right to expect more.” 

Since that moment, that’s exactly what Antonetti and Lille have got. Saturday’s display at Gazélec was pretty much perfect in terms of efficiency. Boufal had three shots on goal, all of which ended up in the back of the net. He also contributed a trio of key passes.  

There’s certainly something of a certain Lille alumnus in there. Antonetti’s use of Boufal starting on the left, then allowing him to drift into central areas, strongly recalls Dimitri Payet, and the Moroccan winger has much of the West Ham man’s technical dazzle. That said, Boufal has also lucked out in recent weeks by having such an in-form foil in the shape of Éder. 

The Portugal centre-forward hasn’t looked at his best in a long time following a serious knee injury sustained in 2013, even if writing him off a Swansea flop after just two Premier League starts seems a little frivolous. Given game time and mobile support at Lille - not only from Boufal, but from Benzia, Morgan Amalfitano and livewire full-backs Corchia and Djibril Sidibé - he has been a different player.  

Even while not scoring at Gazélec, Éder showed how important he’s become since arriving in the north with his smart hold-up play, and his ability to draw centre-backs out. The player average position chart shows the forward dropping deep to occupy defenders and to allow Boufal to move beyond him onto simple but accurate lay-offs. His overall impact of five goals and three assists in just eight starts has been excellent and makes him look a useful option for Portugal in the context of Euro 2016.  

Neither Éder nor Boufal, however, should need or want to get too far ahead of themselves. The here and now is there to be enjoyed, with the Coupe de la Ligue final against Paris Saint Germain a preface to four final league games in which Les Dogues have everything to gain. Europe awaits and on this form, maybe they won’t need a result from the final day trip to fellow chasers Saint Etienne to get there.

Do you think Lille can secure a place in Europe this season? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below