The story is terribly cruel.
The Reims captain Abdelhamid, who had the immense sadness to learn last week of the non-extension of his contract, was completely missed.
At the Auguste-Delaune stadium on Saturday, Yunis Abdelhamid, 36 years old and darling of Champagne supporters, offered a goal to Jonathan David.
The Moroccan, on the restart in front of his area, missed his back pass towards his goalkeeper, and the Lille striker took advantage (56th, 0-1).
The pain visible on his face after this blunder reflected all the pain felt by the central defender.
In a match where he had until then managed to limit the influence of the Canadian striker, the indestructible Rémois (at the club since 2017) made an unusual error at home.
But this one suits LOSC well, still in contact with the podium with one point behind Monaco (3rd) and two behind Brest (2nd).
In 🦊 surfaces!
#SDRLOSC 0-1 |
66' pic.twitter.com/jyCcKCpfx1
— LOSC (@loscleve) March 2, 2024
Amir Richardson, a 22-year-old midfielder from Reims, was annoyed on Prime Video: “It’s very frustrating, because I think we had a good match.
On a stupid mistake, we lose it.
I also think the referee didn't help us, even if that's not why we lost.
»
In the first period, the two teams measured each other.
Initially quick to move up to press Lille, Stade de Reims gradually retreated to build an impermeable block.
The Northerners, in possession of the ball, had great difficulty unlocking the Champagne padlock, which left them with little space.
Paulo Fonseca's players nevertheless created a very big chance in the 20th minute.
After a shot from Edon Zhegrova, the Reims goalkeeper, Yehvann Diouf, struggled to free himself.
The ball rebounded to Jonathan David, six meters away, but the Canadian's shot was slowed by the goalkeeper then cleared by Thibault De Smet.
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Lille’s Nabil Bentaleb savored this success at the final whistle: “These three points are very important.
I think we dominated the first half, without finishing.
We then knew how to capitalize on the errors in Reims.
It's a team that has already caused us a lot of problems in the first leg
(1-2 defeat at Lille)
, they close the middle very well.
»
Jonathan David, scorer of his twelfth goal of the season in Ligue 1, allowed LOSC to obtain three very valuable points.
Before this match, the team coached by Paulo Fonseca had only recorded two away wins in Ligue 1, out of ten in total.
Here's one more.