Lille OSC ran riot as they beat minnows Golden Lion in the Coupe de France Round of 64 on Saturday with Jonathan David and Edon Zhegrova both netting hat-tricks in a 12-0 victory at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy.
The comprehensive 12-0 scorelines made it the largest victory in Lille’s history. Les Dogues beat R1 side Golden Lion, an amateur team from Martinique, thanks to hat-tricks from David and Zhegrova. Yusuf Yazici andHakón Haraldsson also netted braces, with goals from Tiago Santos and Amine Messoussa rounding off the scoring for Paulo Fonseca’s side.
Lille, unlike many Ligue 1 sides, fielded their strongest line-up to face their lower-league opponents and leading 7-0 at half-time, there was no let-up. For goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier the drubbing is a sign of respect for their opponent. “We wanted to respect the opponent. We didn’t want to stop and we went until the end with intent, even if we could have scored more goals,” reacted the France youth international goalkeeper in the mixed zone.
Having “respected” the tournament and their opponents, Les Dogues ease through to the Round of 32. Fonseca’s side will be considered among the favourites to win the tournament, and all the signs are that Lille are taking the tournament seriously this year, despite their European commitments.
