Lille took a giant step towards the knockout stages of the Champions League, scoring their second successive win against Salzburg in the life-threatening competition for the Austrians.
The French, who had not won at their stadium in their last 13 European matches, face the last competition as group leaders and it will be worth them with a draw against Wolfsburg on the last day to return to the round of 16 14 years later.
The Austrian leader, who was leading the group before this day, will have to play his first pass for the second round against Sevilla on the last day.
Lille seems to be transforming into Europe, where the harangues of its coach, Jocelyn Gourvennec, who does not stop repeating the historical significance of this competition for a modest team like the Nordics, transform a team that is not keeping the type of the defending champion in your league.
With that almost messianic faith, they have managed to re-engage in a competition that started lukewarm, but in which they now face in a good situation to achieve their first qualification for the round of 16 since 2007.
Their second consecutive triumph, after the one achieved in Seville, was once again an exercise in efficiency, the same that they lack in the domestic championship, where they are 20 points behind Paris Saint-Germain, which last year they snatched the title by surprise.
Quite the opposite of Salzburg, who walk in Austria but have lost the magic in Europe, where their first qualification for the second round will be played on the last day against Sevilla.
The Austrians suffered from French efficiency. Dominated in the first half, they enjoyed the best chances, but it was David who took the prize for the goal in the first shot from the Gauls between the three posts in the 31st minute.
It was the award for a tight, narrow play, driven by the Turkish Yilmaz and that the defense did not know how to clear, until the ball reached the Canadian attacker, who has scored in eleven of the last twelve games in which he has participated.
The goal left the Austrians with ko, who in the second half went for the draw, which placed the duel in the mirror of the first round, with the French locked up defending the result as gold.
The entrance of the Argentine Capaldo gave the Austrian team a little more depth, but they were not able to disrupt the rear of Lille, who on the counterattack had some occasion on the counterattack.
– Data sheet:
1- Lille: Grbic; Çelik, Djaló, Fonte, Reinildo; Weah (Yazini, m.84), Renato Sanches, Xeka, Bamba; Yilmaz (Onana, m.70), David (Lihadji, m.93)
0- Salzburg: Köhn; Kristensen, Onguéné, Wöber, Ulmer; Camera; Sucic (Capaldo, m.59), Aaronson (Kjaergaard, m.85), Seiwald (Bernardo, m.85); Sesko (Adamu, m.59), Adeyemi.
Goals: 1-0, m.31: David
Referee: Anthony Taylor (ING), admonished the locals Djalo, Xeka, Bamba and the visitors Kristensen, Seiwald, Kjaergaard, Adeyemi.
Incidents: Champions League group stage match played at the Pierre Mauroy stadium in Lille in front of some 34,000 spectators. EFE