Giroud steals the show in the Derby du Nord
After a goal-packed start to Matchday 9, with 13 goals across two games and hat-tricks from Wahi (OGC Nice) and Hakimi (PSG), Friday night ended with an intense Derby du Nord between Lille and Lens.
→ All the stats from the Derby du Nord!
Giroud makes Lille’s dominance count
Olivier Giroud struck late to hand LOSC Lille a 1-0 Derby du Nord victory over RC Lens on Friday, with the striker delighted to see his side rewarded for what he described as a “complete performance”.
Ancelotti’s side enjoyed 62% possession and attempted 16 shots, seven of them on target, while Diaoune also hit the crossbar in the first half. Les Dogues also recorded 1.63 xG, compared with just 0.19 for Les Sang et Or.
Coming off the bench to make the difference, Giroud became only the second player over the age of 40 to score multiple Ligue 1 McDonald’s goals in the 21st century (one against Brest and one against Lens), after Benjamin Nivet (2).
He is also the first Lille substitute to score a winning goal in the final five minutes of a derby against Lens since Nicolas Fauvergue in April 2005.
“It hasn’t been easy up until now. We’ve been criticised a little for the way we play. Tonight, we put in a complete performance and it was important to turn that into a win,” said the 40-year-old striker.
“I’ve been lucky enough to play in quite a few derbies, and some big ones too. But this one meant a lot to me because it will probably be my last one at home,” Giroud added.
“When the coach calls on you and the game is still in the balance, and you get the opportunity to reward the team’s good performance, you try to make the most of it,” explained the Lille striker, who had started recent matches on the bench despite the absences of Ayase Ueda and Hamza Igamane.
STAT : Lille have won their last three Ligue 1 McDonald’s home matches against Lens without conceding (1-0, 3-0, 1-0), a first in the club’s history.
Giroud came on for Ethan Mbappé in the 73rd minute and found the net 13 minutes later, pouncing after Robin Risser had parried a powerful Nabil Bentaleb strike into his path.
“I’d had one or two opportunities before that, but either a defender got a touch on the ball or I was put under enough pressure to stop me. I anticipated Nabil’s shot. I knew he was going to put everything into it, so it was going to be difficult for the goalkeeper. The ball came back to me and I managed to finish it.”
The goal capped what Les Dogues coach Davide Ancelotti described as Lille’s “most complete performance” of the season, after he had lamented on the eve of the game that his side had too often failed to deliver in the second half.
