Powerless, RC Lens concedes its first defeat of the season in the Champions League against Sporting

European reunion missed in front of their audience. RC Lens was beaten during their match on the second day of the Champions League league phase by Sporting (2-0), Tuesday October 13, on their lawn at the Bollaert-Delelis stadium. Faced with a club that has been the bane of the French in Europe in recent seasons, which has already brought down Lille, Marseille and even Paris, the Lensois, lacking accuracy, conceded the second defeat in their history only at home in the Champions League.

There will undoubtedly be frustration for Yannick Cahuzac's men, who showed an offensive face for 90 minutes, but without managing to swing the match in their favor. Quickly on their feet, like the good movement in the Portuguese area initiated by Florian Thauvin from the 4th minute, they failed to realize their domination (21 shots) and were frustrated by the Portuguese, much more opportunistic (11 shots). For the first time, they finished a C1 match at the Bollaert-Delelis stadium without scoring a single goal.

They also floundered in their own half, like in Prague, where the young defense Samson Baidoo (22 years old), Ismaëlo Ganiou (21 years old) and Kyllian Antonio (18 years old) had already been in difficulty. Tuesday evening, the Lens rearguard found itself misaligned several times and caught by the bursts of speed of Luis Suarez, Nestory Irankunda and Issa Doumbia, who ended up hitting the mark.

Lens spoils and cracks

Because on the other hand, Rui Borges' players shared their experience of these European games to make the difference. Clinical, they opened the scoring with their first strike of the match, when the goleador Luis Suarez, let go by the defense, came to cut the center of Nestory Irankunda (22nd). In a more balanced second period, the Portuguese once again showed themselves to be more opportunistic, with the break goal from the new Italian international Issa Doumbia, who took advantage of an unfortunate exit from Robin Risser (70th). "We have a lot of opportunities, we haven't missed much, that's how it is. We're learning, we're a club that's very young in the competition. We shouldn't accept losing, but there are still some great things," reacted blood and gold captain Florian Thauvin on Canal+.