Lille vs Aston Villa post-match thread

[AV84]

I liked him at the start, cut him some slack when the betting stuff was happening, and I think we saw flashes of what he's capable of, and genuinely I really wanted him to succeed here. But it just hasn't happened, has it.

That said, he could possibly become the first player to win the Conference League twice. Which is kind of hilarious.

Let's hope he's the guy that scores the winning goal in both Finals.

Would be quite a stat, and mark him down in Villa history. They'd have to put the commentary around the new stadium we build.

"Digne, Bailey, prepared to venture down the left. There's a good ball in for Ollie Watkins. Oh, it must be and it is! It's Nicolo Zaniolo! He's fallen over and knocked ball, defender and keeper into the net, but the goal stands!"

[Des Little]

Mods feel free to move this if it’s in the wrong place but…

…our flag went AWOL from the square, so any help in locating it please shout!

Cheers

[PeterWithe]

I was having a look through the match thread. I saw the pic of the armed police with semi-automatic weapons. They were there because of the current level of the terrorist threat (remember Stade de France on the night of the Bataclan attack...) not to shoot pissed up Villa fans. ;-)

I was in Paris on the weekend before the game, soldiers present on all the central streets, along with armed Police.

[Clark W Griswold]

I hope this trend of showing crying children after games ends soon.

I agree. I’d much rather see crying grown adults.

Wasn't yesterday a National Day of Mourning in France where they all line up to spit before burning an effigy of Emi Martinez? The hatred hasn't been lost in Argentina where King Dibu of France has once again got the natives spitting feathers. BE, Sam and others mentioned it before the game but I've been shocked at the pettiness from the French media. The Lille president made me laugh with his utter hypocrisy:

"I don't want us to waste time talking about this guy, whose attitude is not that of a high-level athlete. In high-level sports, in victory or defeat, you have to remain calm and elegant. Therefore, I prefer that we focus on ourselves and highlight all the positive aspects."

Calm and elegant, JFC, like when Bentalab tried to boot the ball at Emi’s head after he just saved his penalty. Its honestly hilarious that they seemed so utterly wound up and obsessed with Emi.

It’s true. Emi should show restraint and class, just like that other World Cup winner and French icon Zenedine Zidane who definitely didn’t lose his shit and head butt an opponent who had been winding him up during the game. In a World Cup final in front of how many billion?

[Pat McMahon]

This is a rough translation of the match report/analysis/review from La Voix du Nord (The Voice of the North) - Lille's local newspaper.

LILLE – ASTON VILLA: SO CRUEL FOR LOSC…

At the end of a breathtaking penalty shootout, Emiliano Martinez maintained his legend as a French football nightmare by stopping Benjamin André's attempt.  LOSC thought they had done the hard part by leading 2-0 until the 87th minute.  The semi-final was on the horizon before suddenly disappearing...

It had to fall on Benjamin André and that sums up all the cruelty of the northern evening.  The northern captain almost became the hero of an extraordinary encounter by scoring twenty-three minutes from the end.  He left the Pierre-Mauroy pitch, sad and defeated, after seeing his penalty stopped by Emiliano Martinez.

And if it is not the words of team mates  Tiago Santos and Rémy Cabella, then the long applause of a stadium bruised by the outcome of the scenario that will be able to console him.  Lille will not go to the semi-final of the Europa Conference League even though it would not have been usurped.  “We had two great matches.  We would have deserved to go through but that’s football,” summed up coach Paulo Fonseca, trying to hide his immense disappointment.

 ALL THE EMOTIONS

There is another “but.”  His name is Emiliano Martinez and the Aston Villa goalkeeper allowed his team to arrive with a wild card in the north of France before completing his work in an event that he loves more than anything.  Where he showed that he could be, in a matter of seconds, great and hateful. 

As in the final of the Football World Cup, the Argentinian had the last word.  In the previous hundred and twenty minutes, he hadn't ended up having much work.

Helpless on the first two northern goals, he especially found himself in the right place to capture the goal bound shot from Bafodé Diakité in added time (90th +2).  The other serious attempts from Haraldsson (46th), Santos (108th), and Gomes (115th) were off target.

However, they would have justified the superiority of the Mastiffs who pressed, stifled, and made the Villans, 4th in the Premier League, dizzy.  We have rarely seen an English team in such difficulty on Pierre-Mauroy's pitch.


Paulo Fonseca decided to trust ten of the eleven starters from last Thursday.  Yusuf Yazici replaced the injured Edon Zhegrova on the right side.  And the Turk found himself in the right place to open the scoring with a splendid recovery, after an equally magnificent cross from Gabriel Gudmundsson (1-0, 15th). 

Lille put themselves in an ideal position from an unchallenged header from captain Andre, which made nearly 45,000 fans scream with happiness (2-0, 67th).

In the last quarter of an hour, Aston Villa finally came out of their torpor and reduced the score to general amazement (2-1, 87th).  Lille then went through all the emotions.  Lucas Chevalier also suggested that a beautiful star was hovering over Pierre-Mauroy by making two gigantic saves in extra time (100th, 120th).

He then saved Leon Bailey's shot in the penalty shoot-out  keeping the score to 3- 3.

Douglas Luiz then succeeded in his.  Not Benjamin André.  The evening suddenly turned into a nightmare.  What a cruel ending...

Great description of Emi:  "...great and hateful..."

Thanks for posting this. I tried a few French sites on Friday but hit paywalls.

I’ll be generous and assume that the “great and hateful” quote is poor translation. If not, it’s just shoddy journalism.

[garth0]

Thanks for posting this. I tried a few French sites on Friday but hit paywalls.

I’ll be generous and assume that the “great and hateful” quote is poor translation. If not, it’s just shoddy journalism.

Hi. I'm just passing through, and I'm taking this opportunity to respond to this message.
I am from the north of France, which explains my poor level of English.
I have access to this newspaper, which is that of the region, and not just of the Lille metropolis, so I registered to share the article with you.
I confirm it's "shoddy journalism". 
We French are not known for our great sportsmanship, and many judge the behavior of others without knowing their culture.
Many have hatred towards Emiliano Martinez, since the world cup.

[Dogtanian]

Thanks for posting this. I tried a few French sites on Friday but hit paywalls.

I’ll be generous and assume that the “great and hateful” quote is poor translation. If not, it’s just shoddy journalism.

Hi. I'm just passing through, and I'm taking this opportunity to respond to this message.
I am from the north of France, which explains my poor level of English.
I have access to this newspaper, which is that of the region, and not just of the Lille metropolis, so I registered to share the article with you.
I confirm it's "shoddy journalism". 
We French are not known for our great sportsmanship, and many judge the behavior of others without knowing their culture.
Many have hatred towards Emiliano Martinez, since the world cup.

Thankyou, and welcome!