Preview:Lille vs SK Brann - prediction, team news, lineups

In their first meeting against them on the European stage, Lille will host SK Brann on matchday one of their Europa League campaign on Thursday at Stade Pierre-Mauroy.

A fifth-place finish in Ligue 1 last season booked Les Dogues’ place into this tournament, while Brann wound up cruising past AEK Larnaca in their playoff tie, advancing 6-1 on aggregate.

Match preview

One of the giant killers in the opening phase of the previous Champions League will be the favourites in nearly every first-round Europa League game they play this time around.

Bruno Genesio’s side defeated Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid in Europe last season, while going unbeaten in the opening phase on their home field.

Lille have not lost a Europa League group fixture at home since December 2014, when Wolfsburg beat them 3-0, while their last European group defeat at Stade Pierre-Mauroy came at home to Ajax in a 2019 Champions League affair (2-0).

They are a perfect 2-0 at home to begin the new Ligue 1 campaign, but on Thursday could suffer consecutive competitive defeats for the first time since March after losing 3-0 domestically at Lens on Saturday.

The joint-highest-scoring team in the French top-flight (13 goals) have netted in 15 successive home outings in Europe, counting their Champions League qualifiers from a season ago.

The last time they appeared in the group portion of this tournament in 2023-24, Les Nordistes went undefeated in their six games played, conceding just two goals along the way.

Resilience and some late drama has enabled Brann to return to the European stage, coming from behind to win their opening leg, before a convincing performance in Greece.

Four of their six goals scored in that tie came beyond the hour mark, three with fewer than 15 minutes remaining, including the leg one winner in stoppage time.

Freyr Alexandersson has guided them to a place in a major European competition for the first time since 2008-09, losing in the opening round to Deportivo de La Coruna on that occasion when this tournament was known as the UEFA Cup.

The Norwegians enter this encounter on a six-match unbeaten run across all competitions, winning those last two games by a combined margin of 6-2.

Only one of their last 14 European away fixtures between 1977 and 2008 ended in a triumph for this club, defeating Club Brugge 2-1 in October 2007.

Brann have come close to winning twice in France before, conceding a late goal in a 2-1 Champions League defeat at Marseille in 2008 and giving up an equaliser to Rennes two minutes before the 90 in a 2007 UEFA Cup affair.

Lille form (all competitions):

SK Brann Europa League form:

SK Brann form (all competitions):

Team News

In their weekend defeat, Lille were missing Alexsandro due to a muscle issue, Thomas Meunier had a pelvic injury, Ousmane Toure was dealing with a cruciate ligament tear, while Marc-Aurele Caillard was sidelined because of a sore elbow.

Olivier Giroud has fond memories of the Europa League, having been involved in 19 goals in his 25 appearances, netting 15 times himself, while finishing as the top goalscorer (11 goals) when Chelsea lifted this trophy in 2018-19.

An unknown injury to Sakarias Opsahl kept him on the Brann sidelines for their second-leg qualifier with AEK, while Niklas Jensen Wassberg sat out with a sore knee.

Niklas Castro, Mads Hansen, Fredrik Pallesen Knudsen and Joachim Soltvedt all found the back of the net in the return engagement against the Greeks, allowing them to advance into the League Phase of this competition.

Lille possible starting lineup:

Ozer; Mandi, Ngoy, Mbemba, Perraud; Bentaleb, Bouaddi; Correia, Mbappe, Sahraoui; Giroud

SK Brann possible starting lineup:

Dyngeland; Pedersen, Knudsen, Helland, Soltvedt; Kornvig, Sorensen, Myhre; Hansen, Magnusson, Castro

We say: Lille 3-0 SK Brann

Lille have a variety of weapons and creative players at their disposal, and should eventually find a way through the Norwegians who could be in for a rude awakening against an experienced European side.

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