PARIS: Lens are enjoying a remarkable season in France and can seize top spot in Ligue 1 this weekend as they look to take the title fight to a Paris Saint-Germain side whose main focus is the Champions League.
PSG’s lead at the top of the table is a single point with nine games remaining, meaning Lens will go top with a win at Lorient on Saturday. They are aiming to take advantage of the fact that PSG have been given the weekend off, their home fixture against Nantes postponed until April to give Luis Enrique’s side a rest in between the two legs of their Champions League last-16 tie against Chelsea.
The fact that Lens are even within touching distance of the Qatar-backed club is entirely unexpected, given that their budget is not even a tenth of that of the reigning European champions.
The club from an old coal mining community in the far north of France, around 40 kilometres from the Belgian border, won their only league title in 1998 but finished as runners-up to PSG as recently as 2023. They fell away in the last two campaigns, finishing seventh and then eighth, not even qualifying for Europe for this season.
Between 2023 and the last close season, Lens sold a host of key players, including Brice Samba, Kevin Danso, Seko Fofana, Lois Openda, Facundo Medina, Neil El Aynaoui, Andy Diouf and Abdukodir Khusanov.
Many have gone to leading European clubs such as Manchester City and Inter Milan, often for big fees, but Lens have not been able to reinvest all that money in new signings. Nevertheless, their decision to appoint former Lyon boss Pierre Sage as coach has been a masterstroke. The unassuming Sage has built an outstanding side full of over-performing players, in which the biggest star is French international forward Florian Thauvin.
