🏏 Sun, 23 Aug 2026 15:00 CEST
Angers SCO
vs
Lille OSC
4-2-3-1 vs 4-2-3-1
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- The Stade Raymond-Kopa stages the opening match of the campaign for both Angers and Lille. Among the twelve clubs already in action, Marseille lead on three points with a goal difference of plus four, ahead of Lens and Lyon. Alexandre Dujeux sets Angers up in a 3-5-2 while Bruno Genesio's Lille go with a 4-2-3-1, making the shape mismatch the first battleground.
- Nabil Bentaleb returns to a former club. The 31-year-old Algeria international, born in Lille and raised in Tottenham's academy, spent time at Angers as well as Schalke and Newcastle United before settling back home. Standing 187cm with left-footed passing range and real defensive bite, he anchors the Lille midfield having resumed his career after recovering from a cardiac episode.
- Two more men with Lille history sit on the Angers bench. Right-back Carlens Arcus, the 30-year-old Haiti international whose travels took in Vitesse, Auxerre, Cercle Brugge and Troyes, also spent time at Lille. So did Ousmane Cimbakoli, the 189cm, 24-year-old forward from the Central African Republic. Either introduction late on would carry an edge.
- Olivier Giroud, at 39, leads the Lille line. France's all-time leading scorer with 137 caps and a 2018 World Cup winner, the former Arsenal, Chelsea, Milan and Los Angeles FC striker still relies on his 193cm frame for hold-up play and aerial threat, and he broke Lille's record as their oldest goalscorer at 38. How Angers' back three cope with him is the central question.
- Angers answer with 197cm Ousmane Camara, the 23-year-old Mali international centre-back developed at Paris FC whose aerial strength and physicality earned him a long-term contract extension in 2025. Beside him are Jordan Lefort, a 33-year-old left-footed defender with experience at Amiens and Young Boys, and 21-year-old Anthony Belmont, a Lens academy product who is actually a left winger by trade.
- Lille also field one of French football's most watched teenagers in Ethan Mbappe. The 19-year-old, younger brother of Kylian and a PSG academy graduate, plays in central midfield rather than out wide, offering technique and composure in possession alongside Bentaleb. Further forward, 188cm Ngal'ayel Mukau, the 21-year-old DR Congo international who scored twice against Bologna in the Champions League, takes up advanced positions.
- The Angers midfield five is a mix of profiles. Branco van den Boomen, the 188cm Dutchman of 31 on loan from Ajax, is the reference point after winning Ligue 2 with Toulouse and remains a high-class set-piece taker. Beside him is Yassin Belkhdim, 24, plucked from FC Mantois into the Angers academy and the club's leading assist provider in 2025-26. Gabon internationals Jacques Ekomie, 23, and Jim Allevinah, 31, occupy the flanks.
- Angers pair two Moroccans up front. Amine Sbai, 25, is nominally a left winger but starts in the front two, having climbed through Ales, Sete, Grenoble and Al-Fateh in Saudi Arabia, and cuts inside on his right foot. His partner is the 188cm Amine El Ouazzani, also 25. Lille's centre-backs are Alexsandro, the 189cm 27-year-old who became the first Lille player called up to Brazil under Carlo Ancelotti in 2025, and Nathan Ngoy, 23, a Belgian who broke through at Standard Liege.
- The goalkeepers offer contrast. Angers rely on Anthony Lopes, 35, who spent roughly twelve seasons as Lyon's number one and was part of Portugal's EURO 2016 winning squad. Lille counter with 190cm Berke Ozel, the 26-year-old Turkey international who came through Fenerbahce's academy and matured on loan spells in Belgium and Portugal, and whose command of crosses matters against a direct opponent.
- Both benches carry attacking punch. Lille can turn to Gaetan Perrin, 30, who produced ten goals and eleven assists in 2024-25 before joining from Krasnodar in February 2026, Felix Correia, the 25-year-old Sporting product who also passed through Manchester City and Juventus, and Morocco winger Osame Sahraoui, 25. Angers hold back Prosper Peter, a 19-year-old centre-forward at the club since he was 14 who made his Ligue 1 debut in April 2025.