All you need to know: LOSC-Paris Saint-Germain!
The stats, the stakes, and a little bit of history ahead of Sunday's Ligue 1 encounter.
A little history...
This will be the 92nd meeting of the two sides. Lille had the upper hand for many years, but the Parisians have turned things round in recent times with 37 wins to 30 losses in competitive fixtures.
It was against Lille the Paris Saint-Germain won their first official title, the Ligue 2 crown, with a 4-2 win at the Stade Jean Bouin on 12 June, 1971.
Four of Paris Saint-Germain's top-five fastest Ligue 1 goals have been scored against Lille: Maxwell at the Parc des Princes (26 seconds, 25 April 2015), Zlatan Ibrahimovic in Lille (27 seconds, 2 September 2012), Nordine Kourichi, own-goal (45 seconds, 22 October 1983) and Safet Susic (48 seconds, 20 October 1990), the last two both being scored at the Parc des Princes.
Twenty-seven players have featured for both sides: Jocelyn Angloma, Mathieu Bodmer, François Brisson, Bernard Bureau, Yohan Cabaye, Aliou Cissé, Lucas Digne, Oumar Dieng, Pierre Dréossi, Pierre-Alain Frau, Idrissa Gueye, Jonathan Ikoné, Mickaël Landreau, Bernard Lama, Christophe Landrin, Edvin Murati, Pascal Nouma, Bernard Pardo, Christian Perez, Stéphane Pichot, Jacky Planchard, Thierry Rabat, Jocelyn Rico, David Rozehnal, Younousse Sankharé, Amara Simba and Timothy Weah. N.B. Mike Maignan and Boubakary Soumaré did not make a competitive first-team appearance for Paris Saint-Germain.
Dominique Rocheteau leads the way for the club with eight goals against Lille. Safet Susic (7), Edinson Cavani and Lucas (5), and then Jean-Claude Bras and Pedro Miguel Pauleta (4) follow.
The stakes...
Paris Saint-Germain, the league leaders, want to exorcise the ghost of their last visit to the Stade Pierre Mauroy: a stinging 5-1 loss on 14 April, 2019, which was their biggest defeat since 2011. The Parisians hadn't conceded five times since losing by the same scoreline at Sedan on 2 December, 2000, and had not lost by a four-goal margin since 27 April, 2010, and a 4-0 defeat at Grenoble.
The capital club will hope to continue their run of 42 away matches with at least one goal since the goalless draw at Caen on 19 May, 2018.
The keys to the match...
Last season at Lille, Paris Saint-Germain struggled after Juan Bernat was sent off after just 36 minutes. Since the start of the season, the Rouge-et-Bleu have not had a red card and lie second in the league's Fair Play table. That is their best disciplinary record in ten years since they had their first dismissal of the 2008/09 campaign in the Week 28 fixture with Marseille (1-3, 15/03/2009).
