Overview
Lille returned to the Champions League after finishing third in Ligue 1 in the 2025-2026 season under Bruno Genesio. After that, Genesio moved to Marseille, paving the way for Davide Ancelotti to take over as head coach.
Ancelotti started his new term with 3 unbeaten matches. Lille defeated Angers 2-0 in the opening round of Ligue 1, then surprised when leading Paris Saint-Germain 2-0. However, the capital team of France scored 2 goals in injury time to keep 1 point.
Lille quickly forgot about this result when they won 1-0 at Toulouse's stadium. Ayase Ueda, in his team debut, scored the decisive goal in the 73rd minute to help Lille continue to maintain their unbeaten record.
Home form also brings confidence to Lille before welcoming Real Betis. The French team has only lost 1 in their last 9 home matches against Spanish representatives, besides 3 wins and 5 draws.
The last time Lille hosted a Spanish team in the Champions League also brought beautiful memories. They defeated Real Madrid 1-0 in the 2024-2025 season. At that time, Davide Ancelotti was still an assistant in Real Madrid's coaching staff.
On the other side, Real Betis is waiting for their first return to the Champions League since the 2005-2006 season. Finishing fifth in La Liga last season helped the Spanish team win the right to participate in the most prestigious playground in Europe.
Betis will face very strong opponents in the group stage, including Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal and Bayern Munich. Therefore, the first 3 matches against Lille, Porto and Feyenoord are important for their competitiveness.
Head-to-head history with French clubs brings quite good signals for Betis. They have only lost 2 in their last 7 encounters, besides 3 draws and 2 wins.
Betis is also in good spirits after defeating Real Madrid 1-0. This is Real Madrid's first defeat under Jose Mourinho this season.
Troy Parrott came on as a substitute and scored the first goal for Betis, before goalkeeper Alvaro Valles became the hero with a save from Kylian Mbappe's penalty in injury time. Before that, Carlos Espi was also denied an equalizer for offside.
This victory helped Betis quickly forget the 2-5 defeat to Levante. This is also their third 1-0 victory in the first 4 matches of the season.
Lille has home advantage and good results against Spanish teams, while Betis is in high spirits after defeating Real Madrid. The confrontation in France will be a test for both Davide Ancelotti and Pellegrini on their return to the Champions League.
Expected lineup:
Ozer, Santos, Ngoy, Alexsandro, Verdonk, Andre, Bentaleb, Mbappe, Haraldsson, Sahraoui, Giroud.
Real Betis: Valles, Bellerin, Bartra, Natan, Garcia, Bernal, Roca, Antony, Isco, Fornals, Parrott.
The match between Lille and Real Betis takes place at 2:00 AM on September 9 (Vietnam time).
