Be careful, shock ahead. Sunday at 8:45 p.m., Olympique Lyonnais hosts LOSC at the end of the 13th day of Ligue 1. Faced with the Lyonnais who have been moribund since the start of the season, the Mastiffs could get closer to the podium if they succeed. Paulo Fonseca knows he can rely on Edon Zhegrova to lead his troops to victory between Rhône and Saône.
Kylian Mbappé, Aleksandr Golovin, Jérémy Boga, Rayan Cherki… the “League of Talents” is full of whimsical players who like to provoke the opponent with their technical quality. However, they are all ahead of one man: Edon Zhegrova. After 12 Ligue 1 matches, the Lille player is the player who has completed the most dribbles since the start of the season. With 33 successes in 58 attempts, he is ahead of Ousmane Dembélé (32/73), Rayan Cherki (28/57) and Romain Del Castillo (26/61).
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The talented left-hander’s versatility has helped Lille more than once this season, to the delight of Paulo Fonseca. Having started eight times since the start of the championship, the 24-year-old Kosovar has played the majority of his matches on the right, where he likes to be able to get on his left foot. But he also happened to help out on the other wing, in the Europa League in particular. He can, in addition, rely on a right-back who likes to offer himself, whether it is Thiago Santos or Bafodé Diakité. Which offers him more space, and allows him to regularly bring danger into the opposing area. Given the difficulties that the Lyonnais are going through in this sector (16th defense in Ligue 1), it could do a lot of harm to the residents of Groupama Stadium on Sunday evening.
Adam Ounas, Hákon Arnar Haraldsson, Nabil Bentaleb, Ayyoub Bouaddi… there are several Mastiffs who defended the colors of their countries during the international break. And Edon Zhegrova also thought he would be part of it. However, the Kosovar international, who has 18 appearances with the national team, was unable to join his selection which won against Israel (1-0), drew against Switzerland (1-1), and lost against Belarus (0-1) in the Euro 2024 qualifiers. The fault lies in a disagreement between his club and his country.
The explanation lies in the rescheduling of the match against Israel. The match was played outside the dates planned by UEFA, and therefore at the same time as the championship match between LOSC and Téfécé. The player was therefore not included in the group called by Primož Gliha. As a result, Kosovo failed to qualify, which saddened the left-hander who said he wanted to “be there for others” on his Instagram account. “But I was told that if I didn’t play against Israel, I should forget about the other games”. And this, “despite” his “great desire” to help his selection. LOSC will therefore be able to count on a vengeful player who is in great physical shape. Without wanting to write the scenario in advance, he seems to have all the cards in hand to achieve a great performance against Lyon.
All the praise above can, however, be mitigated by a number: one, like the number of goals he has scored in the league this season. The winger often lacked sharpness in the last gesture, which had the gift of annoying his coach Paulo Fonseca. He “annoys me, sometimes,” he confided, having fun last season. But the Kosovar seems on the right track this season, having been decisive five times in the last six championship meetings.
A performance that his coach was keen to praise after a victory against Reims last October: “I am very happy with his play at this level. He is progressing, but he still needs to progress to play.” Moreover, each time he was put on the bench, LOSC never won. Expected to start against Olympique Lyonnais on Sunday evening, the Mastiff could well be tempted to improve his statistics. In the event of a victory, Lille would only be a small point away from the podium, and directly qualifying places for the Champions League.
