Olivier Giroud scored the opening goal as Lille gave Davide Ancelotti a winning start as coach with a 2-0 victory at Angers in their Ligue 1 opener on Sunday.
Former France striker Giroud, who turns 40 next month, broke the deadlock in the 11th minute with an excellent low drive from long range after collecting Nabil Bentaleb's pass.
Tiago Santos volleyed in a loose ball to double the advantage just after the half-hour mark at the end of an excellent Lille move.
Davide Ancelotti, son of coaching great Carlo Ancelotti, took over at Lille in June following the departure of Bruno Genesio who is now at Marseille.
Lille finished third in the French top flight last season to qualify for the Champions League league phase.
"It wasn't perfect, but we wanted to start strongly today," Giroud told Ligue 1+.
"We could have killed the game off earlier," he added.
Lille midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi has been strongly linked with a move to Manchester City and, despite not being involved in the matchday squad, the 18-year-old Moroccan said his potential goodbyes to travelling fans after the game.
"We don't know what will happen," Giroud said.
"If it happens then we will want to celebrate the win for him," the ex-Arsenal striker added.
Later, ex-England defender Eric Dier scored the winner as Monaco edged new boys Le Havre 1-0 in Normandy.
In the final game on the opening weekend of the season, Paris Saint-Germain start their bid for a sixth straight Ligue 1 title when they visit Rennes, in a match moved from the Parc des Princes due to the poor state of its pitch.
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