Strasbourg's French midfielder Jeremy Grimm (L) celebrates his goal with teammate French midfielder Anthony Goncalves (C) and Senegalese defender Kader Mangane (R) during the French Ligue 1 football match between Strasbourg (RCSA) and Lille (LOSC) at The Meinau Stadium in Strasbourg, eastern France on August 13, 2017. PATRICK HERTZOG / AFP
Marcelo Bielsa suffered his first loss as coach of Lille on Sunday, three different players going in goal in a chaotic 3-0 defeat away to newly-promoted Strasbourg.
On a miserable day for Bielsa and his side, Lille lost Brazilian recruit Thiago Mendes and full-back Kevin Malcuit to injury in the first 18 minutes at the Stade de la Meinau.
The enigmatic Argentine coach then opted to make another substitution before the interval, so when goalkeeper Mike Maignan was shown a straight red card just after the hour mark for stupidly throwing the ball at Benjamin Corgnet, Lille were in trouble.
Unable to send on substitute goalkeeper Herve Koffi, Lille were instead forced to hand the gloves to striker Nicolas De Preville.
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He promptly denied Idriss Saadi when the Strasbourg player found himself clean through, but the home side had been on top throughout and they got the breakthrough they deserved in the 74th minute.
Dimitri Lienard delivered a corner and Jonas Martin beat De Preville with a cushioned finish at the near post.
De Preville had had enough of his stint in goal and he opted to give the gloves to captain Ibrahim Amadou for the closing stages.
The Cameroonian defender was beaten twice in the last 10 minutes, first from a Lienard penalty that followed a foul by Edgar Ie, and then from Jeremy Grimm’s long-range strike as Strasbourg won a top-flight game for the first time in more than nine years.
“We made too many mistakes today and we paid dearly for them,” Amadou told beIN Sports after the game.
“It was the first time I’d ever gone in goal. It is not my position but you just have to get on with it.”
Reigning champions Monaco were in action later at Dijon with star striker Kylian Mbappe left on the bench amid speculation linking him with a huge money move to Paris Saint-Germain or Real Madrid.
Neymar is set to make his PSG debut when the capital club go to Guingamp at 9pm (1900 GMT). The Brazilian was cleared to play for his new club on Friday, a week after his world record 222 million-euro ($261 million) transfer from Barcelona.
Source: G Sport
