David downs Goliath as Lille stun Champions League holders Real Madrid
European champions Real Madrid made the perfect start to their Champions League campaign with a 3-1 win over Stuttgart on matchday one and they set about following up that result tonight.
A little over five minutes were on the clock when they manufactured their first chance of the evening when some tenacious work from Jude Bellingham won the ball back for Vinicius Junior, but his stinging drive was beaten away by Lucas Chevalier.
Lille certainly gave as good as they got, and Jonathan David forced a stunning double save out of Andriy Lunin as the hosts ramped up the pressure.
Lille kept coming and almost struck gold in fortuitous fashion when Benjamin Andre’s miscued cross had Lunin worried, but it clipped the crossbar and went away to safety.
Real’s luck ran out on the stroke of half-time when Edon Zhegrova’s free-kick was blocked by the hand of Eduardo Camavinga inside the area. David assumed responsibility from the spot, and this time he won his personal duel against Lunin, sending the Ukrainian the wrong way from 12 yards.
Even after the break, the one-way traffic continued towards the Real goal, and Lille came within a whisker of doubling their advantage when Zhegrova curled an effort inches wide of the post.
Carlo Ancelotti had seen enough shortly before the hour mark and turned to his bench to introduce Kylian Mbappe, although his introduction failed to have the desired effect.
Even creating clear-cut chances was problematic for Real, who by the time the 85th minute rolled around, hadn’t as much as mustered a second-half shot on target.
But seconds after that, the best chance of the game came and went for Real when Arda Guler’s header was turned goalwards by Antonio Rudiger and then cleared off the line by Tiago Santos.
Lille had to survive one final scare when Luka Modric found an unmarked Guler in the box, but the outstretched leg of Chevalier preserved a huge three points for Lille in what was a first-ever meeting between the two sides.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Tiago Santos (LOSC Lille)