By Alexia Krause
LILLE, France (TheSportsNext) August 30, 2012: French soccer club Lille joined Celtic in the group stages of the Champions League 2013 on Wednesday when they outlasted FC Copenhagen by 2-0, thanks to Tulio de Melo who won that crucial goal which gave the 2011 French champions the 2-1 aggregate victory.
Lille came into this match with a 1-0 deficit they registered last week in Copenhagen and were expecting to win the home tier against the Danish side at their new Grand Stade.
They looked good when Lucas Digne converted a low cross by Salomon Kalou in the 43rd minute to give them a 1-0 lead thus equaling the aggregate scores. However, they needed to score another one to qualify into the group stages of the Champions League 2012-13.
Brazilian Tulio de Melo came at a striking distance in the 84th minute to double the lead but was thwarted by the crossbar but he didn’t lose his heart and struck the deciding goal in the extra time to lift his side into Champions League.
Lille coach Rudi Garcia was over the moon side after securing victory in front of around 50,000 home fans and now his eyes are set on the Champions League group-stage draw scheduled on Thursday in Monaco.
He told media, "I'm happy for (club president) Michel Seydoux, not because of the financial implications but for the collective emotions. The fans were magnificent and they really pushed us. We'll be in the draw. We have to savour it and congratulate the players, because they were really great."
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