By dominating Marseille (2-1), Saturday, during the 34th day of Ligue 1, the Sang et Or confirmed that they rarely missed their meetings against direct competitors.
“It doesn’t matter the Cup, as long as we have drunkenness”, was it written on a banner deployed in the Bollaert-Delelis stadium a few minutes before kick-off against Olympique de Marseille, Saturday May 6. For two hours, thanks to the Rennes defeat on the lawn of Nice (2-1), Lens was guaranteed to finish in the first five places and, therefore, to find the European Cup for the first time since 2007. After their victory against OM (2-1) thanks to goals from Seko Fofana and Loïs Openda, the Sang et Or are getting closer to the most beautiful of them: the Champions League, which they have already played in twice (1999 and 2003).
9 out of 12 points against podium teams
With eleven points ahead of fourth Monaco, which travels to Angers on Sunday, the Lensois could validate their qualification for C1 the next day. It would only be logical as Franck Haise’s men have shown themselves to be intractable against their direct competitors. They took nine points out of a possible twelve against the members of the podium, PSG and Marseille. It’s as much as Paris Saint-Germain, while the Phocaeans simply took no points in these four direct confrontations.
For Lens, only a defeat at the Parc des Princes three weeks ago (3-1) tarnishes the table. But the early expulsion of Salis Abdul Samed after 19 minutes of play justifies this mistake. If we extend the statistics to the members of the top 5, the Artésiens took 16 points out of 24 possible, as much as Paris and still better than Marseille: seven units out of 21 possible. Monaco (5/21) and Lille (4/15) do even worse.
Saturday evening, the new dolphins of PSG (which has a three-point lead before the reception of Troyes on Sunday) were however jostled by the intense pressing of the Marseillais, especially in the first period. They could even have been quickly led to the score without the goal severely denied to Alexis Sanchez (8th).
But even in the difficulty, they managed to reverse the trend. First by Seko Fofana with a shot wrapped outside the area (1-0, 42nd) then by Loïs Openda (2-0, 60th). “We fought, it showed what we wanted to do in this championship. We knew it was a very difficult match, we showed a good state of mind and we deserve this victory”reacted on Canal + the second scorer of the evening, author of his 19th achievement in Ligue 1 this season.
Points lost against the last five in the standings
The Belgian is the symbol of Lens which reaps against the big players. Openda has scored five goals in eight games against members of the top 5. His header, receiving a fine center from Przemyslaw Frankowski, follows the only Lensois goal in Toulouse (1-0) on Tuesday last, and a double in Monaco (3-0).
Paradoxically, it was against the more affordable teams that the Sang et Or dropped important points. Perhaps those who are missing to hope to dethrone PSG and win a second title in their history after 1998. Lens pocketed 19 points (out of a possible 27) against the bottom five in the standings, only three more than against … the top five. The last two days of Ligue 1 will put Ajaccio (19th) and Auxerre (15th) on the route of the Northerners. The perfect opportunity to rectify the situation.