Lille lost the possibility of placing in the European positions after being unable to pass this Friday at home to the 0-0 draw against Saint-Etienne, in a gray match for the “dogues” who were barely able to generate clear scoring chances .
Quite a problem for Lille with only five days to go before the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 that will face the French team with Chelsea and in which Jocelyn Gourvennec’s men will have to come back from 2-0 side of the first leg if they want to continue in the competition.
Indeed, the hosts only seemed in a position to score when a 40th-minute shot from Turkish full-back Zeki Celik hit the post.
Little baggage for the French champion who neither the presence at the tip of the attack of the Canadian Jonathan David, nor of Hatem Ben Arfa served to generate clear danger in the Saint-Etienne area.
A panorama that did not change with the entry after 61 minutes of the game of Turkish striker Burak Yilmaz, one of the heroes of the league title won last year by Lille, who failed to revive the offensive game of the “dogues”.
Equal that left Lille in seventh position two points behind Strasbourg, which closes the European places and will face Monaco next Sunday, while Saint-Etienne will have to continue fighting to get away from the relegation places from which only one point separates the “greens”.