Lille vs Sevilla Predictions & Match Preview

Lille vs Sevilla predictions and match preview for Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League fixture. Read on for the head-to-head, team news and predicted lineups as Sevilla target three points in France.

Lille vs Sevilla Preview

Sevilla take their bid for Champions League progress to Northern France on Wednesday as they search for their first victory in this season’s competition, away to Lille. This is shaping up to be a very tight group and three points would be a massive boost for Julen Lopetegui’s men.

They’ve been frustrated so far in their first two group games and have had to settle for draws in each. It could have been much worse in truth had RB Salzburg scored more than one of their three penalties on MD1 and Sevilla then needed a late goal to salvage a result away to Wolfsburg in their last UCL match. Ivan Rakitic’s 87th minute penalty secured a valuable point.

Since then, Sevilla have recorded a 1-0 loss and a 1-0 win in LaLiga, both away from home, against Granada and Celta Vigo respectively. Rafa Mir’s goal was enough at Balaidos on Sunday and one of the positives for the Andalusian side is that they do look to have genuine competition in those attacking positions. Lopetegui would have been particularly pleased by the clean sheet in Vigo given he was without three members of his first choice back four.

The depth looks good but there are still times where you wonder if Sevilla are still just a little bit of genuine star quality short of being a really top side, particularly on the European stage.

Lille are the French champions but they look somewhere short of the standard they set last season so this is a chance for Sevilla to record a vital away win. Lille are bottom of the group currently with just a point from their opening two games. That came via a goalless draw against 10-man Wolfsburg at home while they were beaten 2-1 in Salzburg last time out.

They will only have one home game left after this, so the onus is really on the French side to go out and try to dictate the running and target maximum points. They did pick up a 2-0 home win over Marseille in Ligue 1 earlier this month which they were hoping would be a real building block for the rest of their season, but a 1-0 defeat against unfancied Clermont Foot at the weekend suggests all is still not right for Jocelyn Gourvennec and his team.

Head to Head

• The sides last met in the UEFA Cup knockout stage in 2006.
• Sevilla lost 1-0 in France but won the tie thanks to a 2-0 2nd Leg win at the RSP.
• Sevilla also lost 1-0 in Lille in 2004 in the same competition, the only other meeting this century.

Team News

Reinildo and Burak Yilmaz are out injured for Lille.

Youssef En-Nesyri and Joan Jordan are significant absentees for the visitors. Jules Kounde is a doubt but may be risked given the importance of the game.

Predicted Lille Starting Lineup:

Grbic – Reinildo, Djalo, Fonte, Celik – Gomes, Andre, Sanches, Ikone – David, Yilmaz (4-4-2)

Predicted Sevilla Starting Lineup:

Bono – Acuna, Carlos, Kounde, Navas – Rakitic, Fernando – Ocampos, Gomez, Suso – Mir (4-2-3-1)

Lille vs Sevilla Predictions

Score Prediction: Lille 1-1 Sevilla

Sevilla haven’t looked fully confident in their Champions League games so far with some uncharacteristic mistakes creeping into their game. This will be tough too with Lille at home in front of a big crowd and in desperate need of a result to bolster their hopes of progression. Sevilla may have to settle for a third straight UCL draw.

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