Few goals in Lille?
Lille will welcome Sevilla on the third matchday in the Champions League. The Spaniards will not really enjoy the trip to the north of France: The last two guest games at the Great Danes ended with a 0:1 defeat. On the other hand, those narrow defeats were some 15 years ago.
The home side have also failed to impress in the current competition: a goalless draw at home to Wolfsburg and a defeat at RB Salzburg has left the French champions in last place in Group G. For the match at the Stade Pierre Mauroy between Lille and Sevilla, the forecast includes a maximum of two goals by the final whistle at the Stade Pierre Mauroy.
Lille – Statistics & current form
The Northern French have, as described, quite good experience with Sevilla, at least on their own ground, but basically the record against teams from the Iberian peninsula is expandable: Only two of the past 13 duels with Spanish clubs were won. Instead, they have suffered six defeats and five times at least a draw.
Especially the attack did not cut a good figure in the Spanish encounters: In none of the games was the team scored more than once and in total only eight goals were scored. Given this record and the fact that their opponents have the best defence in La Liga, the odds on a clean sheet for Lille against Sevilla are also interesting.
Lille is no fortress in the Champions League
Lille also cannot count on home advantage: A meagre 15 per cent of the 20 home games in the top flight so far have been won. Only the Romanians from Steaua Bucharest beat this number in terms of teams that have played at least 20 home games in the Champions League.
On the offensive side, hopes are once again pinned on Burak Yilmaz. The Turk scored Turkey’s decisive goal from the penalty spot in their dramatic away win in Latvia last week and is also the second oldest scorer in Champions League history after Cristiano Ronaldo thanks to his recent goal against RB Salzburg.
The goal against the Austrians, on the other hand, was Lille’s only one so far in the current edition of the Champions League, which is why coach Jocelyn Gourvennec’s side’s attack can be said to have plenty of room for improvement.
Recent league match ended in defeat
In the dress rehearsal for the clash with Sevilla, they also conceded a 1-0 defeat to previously in-form Clermont Foot last weekend in Ligue 1. OSCL are now only eleventh in the table and the defending champions are already 13 points behind leaders PSG after ten rounds of matches.
Predicted Lille line-up:
Grbic – Fonte – Botman – Mandava – Celik – Ikone – Andre – Onana – Bamba – Yilmaz – David
Last matches played by Lille:
Sevilla – Statistics & current form
The Spaniards are slowly turning into an away shock in the Champions League: they have not lost in eight away games and their last defeat away from home in this competition was around five years ago, when they were sent packing 5-1 at Spartak Moscow.
In the current edition of the Champions League, coach Julen Lopetegui’s side have so far recorded two draws against Salzburg and the Wölfe from the Bundesliga. Both times Ivan Rakitic scored the only goal for his team and the 33-year-old Croatian was always successful from the penalty spot.
En-Nesyri may return
Now, however, things could be a little better on the offensive end as top striker Youssef En-Nesyri may be back on board. In the last match in Wolfsburg, the Moroccan was still missing due to a card suspension. However, he would be returning from injury at the same time, so it remains to be seen whether the attacker is back to 100 per cent yet.
While the attack is capable of improvement, the Andalusian defence is very solid. As mentioned, the visitors have the lowest number of goals conceded in the league. In the top flight, the Sevillistas are also quite rustic in defence: Wolfsburg alone have collected more yellow cards than Sevilla in the Champions League.
Given the very even nature of the upcoming encounter between Lille and Sevilla, it is worth betting on another draw.
Predicted Sevilla line-up:
Bono – Kounde – Montiel – Navas – Acuna – Rakitic – Fernando – Jordan – Lamela – Mir – En-Nesyri
Last matches played by Sevilla:
Lille – Sevilla Direct comparison / H2H balance
The last direct encounter took place in the 2005/06 season in the last 16 of the UEFA Cup. On that occasion, the Spaniards prevailed 2-1 on aggregate and later also celebrated a triumph in the final of the competition against the British side from Middlesbrough.
A year earlier, the northern French and Andalusians also faced each other in the UEFA Cup. In the group stage at that time, the French scored a 1-0 home victory. For the next edition of Lille vs Sevilla, the odds are now leaning slightly towards an away win.
Lille – Sevilla Tip
The match in the north of France could be a tough affair. The home side have only managed one goal so far and with the Spaniards travelling a strong defence. For the match between Lille and Sevilla, the tip therefore aims for less than three goals in the course of the match.
The selected limit has never been exceeded in the three encounters between the clubs so far and especially the games of the visitors are currently low-scoring. The comparisons with Wolfsburg and Salzburg, for example, have already ended with a maximum of two goals and the two goals scored have only come from penalties.
In addition, the lack of goals can also be observed in league play: No team concedes fewer goals in La Liga and only two of the eight league games so far have ended with at least three goals. Away from home, the lack of goals is even more pronounced: None of the five league games ended with a result above 2.5 goals!
Furthermore, we can expect a very even match between two teams on a par, who will largely neutralise each other on the pitch. Betway offers betting odds of 1.60 on the clash between Lille and Sevilla.
