Despite their draw against PSV Eindhoven (1-1) on Tuesday, the Lensois experienced another warm evening with an audience delighted to rediscover the flavor of European evenings.
“I have been a subscriber since 2018 and before each match, I put on the same outfit, I arrive early to park in the same place. I’ll have some fries, I’ll get into the stadium early enough, I’ll buy a drink and I’ll settle down.“As usual, Apolline follows his ritual to perfection. It must be said that he had walked against Arsenal three weeks earlier (2-1), with a historic feat for the Artesian club, which moved from Ligue 2 to the most prestigious European competition in less than five years.
“I feel like I played a role in all of this.”, laughs Apolline. Tuesday evening, his routine was not enough, since his RC Lens was held in check by PSV Eindhoven at the Bollaert-Delelis stadium (1-1). However, the Sang et Or’s chances of qualifying for the next round remain intact. Above all, they experienced one of those evenings with a memorable atmosphere.
A 32nd match in a row sold out
Before the meeting, Grégory, a forty-year-old Lensois lifelong supporter, stamps his feet: “Lens makes Lens. You can lose against a small team and win against a much stronger one. We will always be amazed.” His fricadelle in hand, surrounded by other Sang et Or fans who crowd around the chip stands, the man expects a victory for his team before the match against PSV, leader of the National Championship -Down.
Racing, 15th in Ligue 1 at the start of the season, has just returned to the Champions League for the first time in 21 years, and qualification for the C1 next season already seems compromised. “We don’t know when we will be able to relive these moments“, does not lose sight of Apolline, who is experiencing C1 evenings for the first time in her life as a young supporter.
She is not the only one who absolutely wanted to attend these historic evenings since Lens was sold out for its 32nd consecutive match at Bollaert. Baptiste, who lives in Savoie but has always supported Lens, missed a good number of them. The skull painted in Blood and Gold, he describes the unwavering support of local supporters: “It’s always nice for Lens players to play in front of their home crowd.” Surrounded by his three friends, regulars at Bollaert-Delelis, he offers to show us his tattoo of the RC Lens crest on his left buttock. We decide to take his word for it and politely refuse, before asking him to elaborate: “With a twelfth man like that, you can only win every time.”
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The arrival of the Champions League inevitably attracts new faces. This is the case of Patrice and his son Oscar, not yet an adult. Both are not regulars and come to the stadium “about once a year.”. Arriving three hours before kick-off at the stadium, they took the opportunity to slip into the long queue at the club shop, which had been stormed before the match. Curious, they wish “see what a big event is in Bollaert“.
Patrice and Oscar are served, with a good C1 match. Lens responds to PSV, Elye Wahi to Johan Bakayoko in the duel of the prodigies born in 2003. In the stands, the tone is also rising. The match, classified as high risk, with the presence of 1,800 Dutch supporters in the visitors’ stand, and several hundred without tickets in the streets of Lens, escalated. At the break, the Lens supporters whistle at their Dutch counterparts who tear up seats to throw at them.
“It’s easier with supporters like that”
Not intimidated, the Sang et Or and their four stands let Pierre Bachelet and the vibrant “Corons” ring out, before pushing their players at the end of the match. A silent time after the opening score of PSV, the stadium ignites in the last minutes and the hope that the supporters express on each semblance of action gives way to a slight disappointment at not having obtained better at the start. final whistle.
Speaking to Canal+, defender Kevin Danso welcomes the public’s support: “In Bollaert, the supporters are always behind us. It’s easier with supporters like that.”
“We had this strength of character to come back”, welcomed Franck Haise at a press conference, while his team did not lose after being led for the third time in three days. A quality that must be maintained to qualify for the eighth. And if the Sang et Or are not yet there before the 6th and final day and their home match against Sevilla, they know that they will be able to count on the support of their twelfth man: a lively public.