UEL: Lille looking to 'turn it around' against Crvena Zvezda

Lille OSC are going through a difficult phase. The French side are currently winless in Ligue 1 McDonald's in 2026, but are looking to revive their season in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday night.

'Sometimes football is capricious' - Genesio

Lady Luck perhaps has not shone on LOSC this year. Speaking ahead of Thursday night's UEL game against Crvena Zvezda, Bruno Genesio highlighted his side's promising underlying numbers. "Apart from the game against Strasbourg (a 4-1 loss) we are almost the team that recovers the most balls in the opposition's third, the team that has the most shots on goal. We have as much xG as RC Lens and Olympique Lyonnais for example," said the LOSC manager. Lens, of course, are top of Ligue 1 McDonald's, one point ahead of reigning champions, PSG, whilst Lyon are on a 13-game winning streak in all competitions, the best ongoing run in Europe's top five leagues.

And yet... "Sometimes football is capricious," added Genesio. "Sometimes football is marvellous. At the moment, it is more difficult for us but if we continue and if we are mentally able to hold our course and to believe in what we're doing, things will turn around, if we do even more... and it will turn around."

𝑫𝒆𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒅'𝑶𝒖𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒆 𝑻𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒆́ 🤩

Alors qu'il fête ses 21 ans aujourd'hui, on était à Clairefontaine hier avec Ousmane Touré qui poursuit son travail et commence à retoucher au ballon après sa rupture du ligament croisé antérieur, survenue le 17 août… pic.twitter.com/oshzLCJJwI
— LOSC (@losclive) February 18, 2026

Lille's only win in 2026 so far came in the Europa League, against Freiburg (1-0). Ultimately, that win was crucial to ensure their place in the play-offs, and whilst going further in Europe remains an objective, given the club's pedigree, it is also hoped that the match against Serbian opposition can reignite their league season.

But there is no question of prioritisation. "We speak a lot about confidence and the best way to gain confidence is by winning matches. We loved European competition last season (a Champions League campaign that included wins against Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, most notably) and once again at the start of this season. There are not degrees of importance between this match and the match against Angers over the weekend," said the Lills manager.

Edjouma returns, but Lille contending with long injury list

But, looking to return to form, Genesio will be without some key players. Alexsandro remains absent for Les Dogues, as do Ethan Mbappé, Thomas Meunier, Hamza Igamane, Osame Sahraoui, Marius Broholm (ineligible), and whilst the club broadcast positive images of Ousmane Touré back in training, he is still a long way from returning from the ACL injury that he suffered at the start of the season.

Noah Edjouma, however, is fit again, and Gaeten Perrin, the scorer of the equaliser against Brest over the weekend (1-1), may not be ready to start, but his fitness is building.

"I feel that [I have] a combative group, one with a lot of motivation to turn the situation around," said Genesio. That starts tomorrow.

>> Lille held by Brest as their winless run in 2026 continues