Soccer UEFA Cup first round, second leg: Europe's city of culture offers a good deal that is easy on the eye and almost every street here in Lille bears some evidence of the local population's determination to put on a show for their visitors.
Tonight, though, when Shelbourne seek to upset the odds and their hosts at the Metropole Stadium by securing a place in the group stages of the UEFA Cup the French may not prove such considerate hosts. Neither Pat Fenlon nor his players are under any illusions about what is required if they are to win a tie that, at 2-2 after the first leg, looks to be the home side's to lose.
Fenlon, who has been frustrated by Lille not supplying videos of their team in action, has coped well with everything this unexpectedly long European campaign has thrown at him while his team has more than once fought its way out of a tight corner.
Against a side that has defied the local predictions by challenging at the top of the French table after eight games, it will take a good deal more than tactical nous and a spirited show if the Irish champions are to overcome the handicap of Lille's two away goals.
The Shelbourne manager is, as ever, coolly optimistic pointing out his team have done well enough when away from home in domestic and European competition this season. He said: "If we play to our potential then we believe we are capable of winning this game".
In La Coruna, however, they were shown how frailties are punished at this level and while Lille are not on quite the level of the Spaniards they have shown both with their league form and their first-half display at Lansdowne Road they can be a formidable enough outfit.
Shelbourne skipper Owen Heary said: "The second half in Dublin convinced us that we can still beat them. We were 2-0 down and it should have been five or six. The fact, though, we came out and fought our way back into things to get a 2-2 draw has given us the belief that we can come here and do something."
The plan, as it was in Spain, is to keep the game tight until well into the second half and then look to grab a goal but there is a general acceptance the Dubliners will have to play better than they did at the Riazor if they are to cause the upset, not least because their French hosts, who have scored nine goals without replay in five home league games to date, do not need to score this evening to progress.
Speaking on Tuesday Fenlon observed a crucial influence on the club's prospects is that his team - thanks to a combination of full-time football, improved attitude and a more effective game plan - believe they can hold their own in games like this and Ollie Cahill, on his 29th birthday, echoed that thought yesterday.
"Clearly what we've learned is if you keep the ball and keep your shape in European games then you always have a chance," he said. "But as soon you lose those, as soon as you start to make mistakes at this level you are going to be punished. That's what happened to us against Deportivo while in the first half of the first leg against these we simply didn't play. We have to get a lot of things right to win here but we believe as a team we can do it."
With Milenko Acimovic fit again, Claude Puel is expected to make one change to the team that started so well in Dublin with Stephane Dumont making way for the Slovenian international.
Fenlon must replace Joseph Ndo but has Stuart Byrne and Alan Moore back from suspension and is set to start the pair in central midfield where Jim Crawford's experience may mean he retains his place. Wes Hoolahan starts on the right at the expense of Alan Cawley.
Given Ndo was injured ahead of the first leg - Fenlon admitted yesterday the decision to start him had backfired badly - the changes should generate an improvement with Stuart Byrne having done well just in front of the central defence and Alan Moore having shown the capacity to provide a real attacking threat from midfield.
Shelbourne must contain Lille's own attacking midfield far more effectively than they did in Dublin while a repeat of the failure in La Coruna to seize good scoring opportunities would, Fenlon conceded yesterday, prove equally costly here.
The coach admits an early goal for the French would force him to rethink things drastically from his vantage point in the stand where he will serve the second half of a two-match ban for remonstrating with the match official in Spain.
"I've learned not to have a go at referees," he laughed when asked what he had taken from the final game of the club's Champions League campaign. "Well," he continued, "I haven't I suppose but I will have to at some stage."
Just what his players took from that game will become apparent from 6.30 (Irish time) this evening.
LILLE (Probable): Sylva; Angbwa, Tavlaridis, Vitakic, Tafforeau; Landarin, Makoun, Bodmer, Brunel; Acimovic; Moussilou.
SHELBOURNE (Probable): Williams; Heary, Harris, Rogers, Crawley; S Byrne; Hoolahan, Crawford, Moore, Cahill; J Byrne.
On TV: Network 2
