Bielsa tastes first loss as coach of Lille
Paris: Marcelo Bielsa suffered his first loss as coach of Lille on Sunday, three different players going in goal in a chaotic 3-0 defeat away to newly-promoted Strasbourg.
On a miserable day for Bielsa and his side, Lille lost Brazilian recruit Thiago Mendes and full-back Kevin Malcuit to injury in the first 18 minutes at the Stade de la Meinau.
The enigmatic Argentinian coach then opted to make another substitution before the interval, so when goalkeeper Mike Maignan was shown a straight red card just after the hour mark for stupidly throwing the ball at Benjamin Corgnet, Lille were in trouble.
Unable to send on substitute goalkeeper Herve Koffi, Lille were instead forced to hand the gloves to striker Nicolas de Preville.
He promptly denied Idriss Saadi when the Strasbourg player found himself clean through, but the home side had been on top throughout and they got the breakthrough they deserved in the 74th minute.
Dimitri Lienard delivered a corner and Jonas Martin beat De Preville with a cushioned finish at the near post.
De Preville had had enough of his stint in goal and he opted to give the gloves to captain Ibrahim Amadou for the closing stages.
