September 11, (THEWILL) – Nigeria’s Terem Moffi, who scored a final minute goal to hand previous Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain Mauricio Pochettino’s first defeat, scored another last gasp winner against current champions Lille to hand them their latest defeat in Lorient’s 2-1 victory on Friday night.
The 22-year-old delivered a Man of the Match (MOTM) performance as his brilliant assist set up the first goal and he topped it all up with a dramatic late winner to give Lorient a superb win against the defending champions while the latter continues a stuttering start to the season even after the international break.
Lille’s solid end to the 2020/2021 season that saw them lift the Ligue 1 trophy, forcing it away from the tight grip of serial winners PSG, needed to be unblemished to carry them across the line as PSG chased them hard to catch up. But now, the form that saw them finish as Ligue 1 champions appears to have exhausted itself.
With only five points to their name out of an available 12 from four games, Lille manager Jocelyn Gourvennec requested for more determination from his charges ahead of the Ligue 1 resumption.
Lille had asked that the match be shifted to Saturday to accommodate some of their players who had not made it back from international duty to return, including their Canadian striker Jonathan David. Ligue 1 turned down the request and the Friday fixture held as scheduled.
While questions about the coaching chops and technical ability of Gourvennec will receive a lot of attention, it was a night for Moffi to show what a big game striker he had become. He did enough to punish Lille, as the champions were the last team to beat Lorient in the league at the Stade du Moustoir back in February.
The warning signs of Lorient’s attacking intent were not heeded by the the visitors and it did not take long before they had to pay for it. In the 7th minute, Armand Laurienté buried the ball into the top corner after the hard work had been done by Moffi. The Nigerian striker had burst forward and held off four defenders before serving the ball to Laurienté.
Emboldened by their lead, the hosts exploited the poor ball retention of the champions in midfield. The forward pairing of Moffi and Laurienté, who were responsible for Lorient’s lead, were causing all sorts of problems for Lille and tiring them with blistering counter attacks.
It took some midway into the first period before Les Dogues slowly began to impose themselves on the game. Their pressure on the danger area of Lorient got what they needed because referee Clement Turpin awarded Lille a penalty for the manner Julien Laporte upended Burak Yilmaz.
In the 25th minute, Yilmaz scored the penalty for their equaliser. It was the player’s second goal of the season and it helped to settle the game down to a more even contest. The match had no further massive highlights after that until the interval.
The second half was more of the same and clear-cut chances were not opening up on either side. There appeared to be a cautionary approach behind the way the two sides played. Each team did not seem willing to risk taking shots that did not count.
In the 70th minute, Lorient’s goal-scorer, Laurienté, took advantage of the unmarked freedom he was given, to go for a downward header of an in-swinging cross. But, the forward was disappointed to see his effort go wide with just Lille’s goalkeeper Ivo Grbic to beat.
It was then time for the Moffi extra. Vincent Le Goff’s sent a low cross into the Lille danger area. The dangerous Moffi scored from that cross to extend the unbeaten home streak for Les Merlus’ whilst condemning LOSC to their second defeat of the season so far.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
