One goal for 75 minutes, and a nervy lead to protect
Lille beat Troyes 2-0 this afternoon at the Pierre-Mauroy Stadium. Tiago Santos opened the scoring in the 18th minute. Ethan Mbappe added the second in the 90th+3, just before the final whistle.
Between those goals, nothing. Troyes never found a way through and head home with no goals and no points.
For more than an hour Lille had to manage the game on a one-goal lead, the kind of margin a single slip can wipe out. The slip never came.
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Santos sets the tone, Mbappe finishes the job
The Portuguese full-back got Lille going in the 18th minute. An early goal forced Troyes to rip up their plan and chase a game they had come to strangle.
Ethan Mbappe did the rest in stoppage time, punishing a defence that had pushed up the pitch. Three minutes into added time, after 93 minutes of Troyes resistance, the scoreline finally looked like the afternoon had felt.
Three points that change the view from the top
Going into the round, Lille sat on seven points, three behind the Monaco-Rennes pair at the top. This win moves them closer to the leading group and backs up their record at home.
Troyes stay near the bottom, on four points before kick-off. The promoted side are paying for a defence that keeps leaking, a week after shipping six against Strasbourg. The pressure is building.
Lille now have to prove they can do this away from home. Troyes have a more basic job: stop the bleeding at the back.
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