In difficulty in the championship, the Sang et Or have signed one of the greatest exploits of a French club in C1 in recent years.
A gala evening that no one would have really believed in. Building on the momentum of its promising draw in Seville, RC Lens was more than up to the occasion, Tuesday October 3, to achieve a landmark victory against Arsenal (2-1) in the Champions League. Enough to amaze, and above all reward, a bustling Bollaert stadium which has been waiting for 21 years to reconnect with the greatest European competition, and which will still remember these reunions in 21 more years.
Collector’s jersey in homage to that of 2002 – the year when the Lensois beat La Coruna, AC Milan and stood up to Bayern Munich for their last C1 campaign -, tifo XXL in the colors of Europe deployed in the stands. .. A particular scent floated above the Artesians’ lair. It must be said that the challenge was significant against the vice-champions of England, undefeated this season and clear winners of PSV Eindhoven in the opening (4-0).
Adrien Thomasson, from shadow to light
Franck Haise’s band, however, never gave the impression of being outdated. A face the opposite of their delicate start to the season where they even finished in last place in the championship. And yet, it was the Londoners, on a completely missed pass from Adrien Thomasson, who took the advantage through a lethal Gabriel Jesus.
The Lensois, established in place of the hero of Seville, Angelo Fulgini, could logically have collapsed after this gross error. But this fact of the game acted as a reminder of the demands of the Champions League level. After a complicated passage, the winger – for whom it was the first start in the competition – finally redeemed himself ten minutes later by sending a curling shot into the back of the net on a daring relay from Elye Wahi (1-1 , 25th). In his wake, Lens was transformed.
“Mistakes are part of the game, there is no perfect match. What matters when we do it is to get going again, to have this character. Adrien, like the whole team, had a lot of character This evening”underlined Franck Haise on bein Sports after the match, aware of the performance accomplished by his men and the value of “the feat”. We have to go back to the 2018-2019 campaign to find traces of such prowess from a French club, excluding PSG, in the group stage, with Lyon’s victory against Manchester City (2-1).
Elye Wahi towards the stars
Wahi, a decisive passer, was not left out during this feat. While behind, Kevin Danso and Jonathan Gradit wonderfully supported Brice Samba, author of no less than six saves, the 20-year-old former Montpellier player has largely contributed to writing one of the most beautiful pages in the history of the Artesian club.
By scoring the winning goal on a lightning counter-attack (2-1, 69th), Elye Wahi justified his choice to join Lens, rather than another foreign group this summer, to hear the famous anthem. A nice way also to respond to his trainer, who considered Friday that he was “capable of doing much better” despite his first achievement with the RCL against Strasbourg. “I had a bit of a thrill, I’m very happy and I hope we’ll continue this momentum. It’s a great evening, I hope I can relive more, because it’s crazy!”, reacted the 20-year-old Hope.
This is good, with this “squabble” in order, which has not finished being compared to that acquired at Wembley in 1998 against the same opponent, and the draw between PSV and Sevilla at the same time (2-2 ), Lens finds itself first in its group. Shaken up in the championship, Lens showed a completely different side in C1 when few people expected it at this level. Enough to already plan for future crazy European evenings.