LIlle 0-1 Lyon (2016)

Lille 0-1 Lyon
Ligue 1
Friday 18th November 2016

As matches go, this was one of the least exciting that I've seen on my travels and the most memorable part about it was the bloody awful pitch - or pitches (to be precise) as you'll see from the photos.

Lille were struggling in Ligue 1 - fighting to stay above the drop zone and a far cry from a decade earlier when they were punching above their weight and regularly competing at the opposite end of the table. Opponents, Lyon, meanwhile, were much further up the table. They weren't quite in a position where they could win the league (even at this relatively early stage) as Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain were front-runners way clear of everyone else, but they knew that third spot was a realistic possibility that would see them claim a UEFA Champions League Qualifying berth.

Obtaining tickets was easy to do on Lille's website. There was zero chance of a sell-out happening as capacity at Stade Pierre Mauroy far exceeds the club's needs - thus meaning there are always thousands of empty seats at every game which dilutes the atmosphere massively.

My plans to watch this game were nearly scuppered altogether when some drivers at Flixbus, who I'd arranged transport with, took in industrial the previous day which had a knock on effect and resulted in the cancellation of a hell of a lot of services. However, with Ouibus also operating on the London-Lille route, it wasn't too much of a ball ache to rejig my plans at the 11th hour and book with them instead - even though one of the French company's stranger philosophies are to make passengers strictly adhere to 'reserved seating' arrangements on all of their coaches - even when it's practically empty!

Having arrived in Lille during the late afternoon, shortly after sunset, I spent some time in and around the Grand Place Christmas Market, which was 'opening' that weekend, before heading to Stade Pierre Mauroy; located in the north of the city.

Weirdly, despite being a newly-built venue which was used at Euro 2016 (just a few months before this trip), the stadium isn't the easiest to reach, in my opinion, for those arriving on foot. The city has a decent enough metro transport infrastructure in place but when you alight at Cite Scientifique, it's still a good 10-15 minute walk through not the most well-lit of areas. Nevertheless, in comparison to both Lyon's new 'Grand Stade' or Bordeaux's new stadium (which are both miles out of their respective city centres) then it seems a doddle!

The game wasn't memorable. Lyon, who had Alexandre Lacazette up top - just a few months before his big money move to Arsenal, were strong favourites and they wasted practically no time in taking the lead with Maxwell Cornet on target after just three minutes.

Because of the vast capacity and very few things to get excited about for the home fans who'd bothered to turn up, the atmosphere was eerily silent throughout. Not much else happened and memories include a steward, positioned in the corner of the upper tier, eye-balling folk who wanted to move to more expensive seats and making sure they didn't. Also, as you can see from the photos, the pitch was absolutely shocking and I've no doubt it played it's part in making the game much more difficult for those involved as it appeared to be almost two totally different surfaces.

Unusually, I made my getaway with about 10 minutes remaining - certain in the knowledge that I'd not miss an awful lot and sure enough, the scoreline remained the same.

I suspect the next time I visit Lille might well be a 'flying visit' as the city is in quite close proximity to Lens which, despite being a minor town with a ridiculously small population, was also used as a home venue for Euro 2016.

It's certainly nowhere near the top of my agenda at present though.