Coming into the final league phase matchday on the back of five straight defeats in all competitions, the onus was on Lille to stop the rot if they were to hold onto a knockout play-off spot.
A point was likely to be enough, while Freiburg arrived knowing that only a catastrophic set of results elsewhere would see them drop out of the top eight. Given the circumstances, an uneventful first half wasn’t a surprise.
The best chance of the half fell to Hákon Haraldsson, who sent a long-range bouncing strike wide of the mark, either side of promising, but ultimately fruitless, Lille counter-attacks.
The first period wasn’t one for the neutrals, but as things stood at the restart, both sides could be content with the league phase standings.
However, Lille had to remain alert, as Junior Adamu wasted the game’s first clear-cut chance when he found himself in behind the home defence, only to blaze his effort high and wide.
Jan-Niklas Beste then stood up a cross that required Berke Özer to tip over the bar, but both chances paled in comparison to Matias Fernandez-Pardo’s opportunity at the other end, where the forward raced through on goal but couldn’t dink the ball over Noah Atubolu.
The contest had certainly livened up, and a straight red card for a late Maximilian Eggestein challenge on Fernandez-Pardo only added to the growing spectacle.
Momentum was now with the hosts, who didn’t need to push too hard for a goal, given favourable results elsewhere were keeping them inside the play-off spots.
Nonetheless, Lille made sure of qualification when Cyriaque Irié tripped Fernandez-Pardo in the box, allowing substitute Olivier Giroud to win it from the spot.
Despite losing four of their final six UEL league phase games, Lille qualify for the knockouts, largely thanks to a stellar home record that has seen Les Dogues win 13 of their last 17 European encounters at Stade Pierre-Mauroy (D2, L2).
Defeat for Freiburg sees them fall to seventh in the league phase table, but an automatic spot in the last 16 will no doubt soften the blow for the German side.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Nathan Ngoy (LOSC Lille)