Lille 3-2 Sturm Graz: Super sub Haraldsson snatches all three points for hosts

Hakon Haraldsson climbed off the bench to score the winner, as Lille edged out Sturm Graz 3-2 at Stade Pierre-Mauroy.

The Icelandic midfielder had only been on the pitch a minute when he settled the five-goal thriller, while lifting Bruno Genesio’s side into the Champions League’s top eight.

Osame Sahraoui drilled the hosts in front on 37 minutes, while Mitchel Bakker rounded off a sweeping move to double the lead in first-half stoppage time.

However, Sturm Graz responded before the break as Otar Kiteishvili fired into the roof of the net, before Mika Biereth turned home William Boving’s cross within two minutes of the restart.

But there was to be a final twist as, nine minutes from time, substitute Haraldsson found the top corner to seal another three points for Lille.

FULL-TIME: LOSC 3-2 Sturm Graz

A LOSC win and now 13 Champions League points

Get in there!! #LOSCSTU 3-2 I 90′ pic.twitter.com/1Umxj61jyS

— LOSC (@LOSC_EN) December 11, 2024

Data Debrief: Super sub Haraldsson the hero

Haraldsson’s strike sealed successive Champions League home wins in the same season for the first time for Lille, who are now unbeaten in five games.

That is their longest such streak since at least 2004-05.

Scoring more than once in a Champions League home game for the first time in 15 attempts, Lille took their tally for the season to 10 – their most in a single campaign.

Haraldsson was the hero, scoring just 56 seconds after his introduction. That is the second-quickest substitute goal in this season’s Champions League, after Brest’s Mathias Pereira Lage took just 47 seconds to net against Salzburg in October.

As for Sturm Graz, their winless streak away against French opposition stretches to six matches (losing five).