Lille holds on to win first Ligue 1 title in 10 years

PSG had to better Lille's result, but Lille won 2-1 at Angers and PSG won 2-0 at Brest in one of the most exciting French seasons for many years.

Published : May 24, 2021 09:37 IST

Lille's Yusuf Yazici and Burak Yilmaz celebrate after the match.

Lille upset the odds to win its first French championship in 10 years, edging defending champion Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) by one point as an enthralling title race ended on Sunday.

PSG had to better Lille's result, but Lille won 2-1 at Angers and PSG won 2-0 at Brest in one of the most exciting French seasons for many years.

The victory gave Lille a fourth French crown and stopped PSG from sealing a record-equaling 10th to join Marseille and Saint-Etienne.

 

Neymar missed a penalty before Kylian Mbappe netted his league-leading 27th goal in vain on the night he was voted the league's best player and Lille's Christophe Galtier was named best coach for the third time.

Canada forward Jonathan David opened the scoring early for Lille and then won a penalty converted by Turkey veteran Burak Yilmaz just before the break.

Angers grabbed an injury-time consolation to cause some late nerves, but Lille had just a few seconds to wait after restarting the game before celebrating a remarkable achievement.

Lille lost only three games compared to eight for PSG, and Lille also conceded the fewest goals while keeping the most clean sheets.

 

Elsewhere, Monaco drew 0-0 at Lens to secure third and a place in the Champions League qualifying rounds, with Lyon two points back in fourth.

Lyon fluffed its chances by losing 3-2 at home to Nice and enters the Europa League along with fifth-place Marseille.

Brest stayed up by one point from eight-time champion Nantes, which lost 2-1 at home to Montpellier to finish in 18th and the promotion-relegation playoff spot with second-tier Toulouse.