Sang et Or, Blood and Gold. A nickname that the Lens found himself stuck from the 20swhen one’s club colors were changed from green-black to yellow-red, and it has never been fully clarified whether in reference to Spanish flag o alle mines of which the territory was rich. However, in recent years Lens has seen little gold, so much so that in the last ten seasons the team has played in more championships than Ligue 2 that of Ligue 1. And even now that he has returned permanently to the French top division, the budget is for a mid-table club: 62 million eurosa figure that places the Lens at tenth place in this particular ranking. A gap that is not noticed on the field, with the team at third place and in full fight for Champions League qualification.
The Ligue 1 it is a championship engulfed by Paris Saint Germainnot only at a sporting level – except for a few rare seasons – but also and above all at the level of image. It is in fact one of the richest tournaments at the level of ideaof proposals and of talentsbut the presence of the Franco-Qatari giant, un black hole (not just economic) that attracts and encompasses everything that gravitates around it. One of them is more newsworthy defeat of everything else that happens on the fields of the Hexagon. Last January the Parisians fell 3-1 allo Stade Bollaert-Delelis of Lens (capacity 38 thousand spectators, or almost two thousand more than the population of the entire city located in the Pas de Calais department), ending up outclassed at a tactical, physical and athletic level. Ninety minutes in which the budget is a hundred times lower (this is not an exaggeration: the aforementioned 62 million from Lens against the 700 of PSG) that separated the team led by Franke Stink from that of Christophe Galtier it had seemed to have reset. Lens lost 3-1 at the Parc des Princes on Saturday after playing seventy minutes in ten men for the expulsion, right, of Samed. At the end of the match Haise commented: “We lost the ultime chance for the title this evening”. No sentence can better sum up the great work done by the coach and his players in recent months.
The history of Lens may seem like a Columbus egg: unknown technician exploiting the great opportunitya company that resells highly valued players with little thanks to the intuitions of the aforementioned coach, restarting with a new cycle capable of revealing itself, against all expectations, improve of the previous one. The ideal management for any club that does not have large capitals. The problem is to move from theory to practice, an activity in which Stink it’s doing great. Two seasons ago he found himself catapulted into Ligue 1 with only two games of experience on the bench in the first team, gathered in the 2019-20 season in the French second division, when he was called up from the Lens youth academy ferryman to lead the senior team. It was the March 2020 and Europe was grappling with the spread of pandemicso much so that the French Football Federation decided to close the championships in advance, canceling the remaining matches. At the time Lens were in second place in Ligue 2 and thus obtained the promotion.
He finished with Lens Haise twice in seventh place, 3 points away from qualifying for the European cups. But just when a season of resizingaccomplices the numerous assignments summerthe team made a further leap in qualityconfirming Haise’s ability to give as much as possible new impulses to players with rather flat careers, as well as a value those of emerging players, as in creating a team cohesive on the pitch and in the locker room. Thierry Henry spoke of “atmosphere contagious” that reigns around the Lens. No revolutionary philosophy, just the skill in putting together a compact group e organized where the overall result is greater than the sum of the individual players. Which shine like never before. Last year the full-back made headlines Jonathan Clausswho after a career spent in the French and German lower divisions was called up, aged 29, by Didier Deschamps in the national team. It was sold in the summer for 7.5 million at Olympique Marseille. He paid more than triple the Crystal Palace for the median Cheick Doucourecaught at 18 years old by the Malians of Real Bamako, while the striker of the team Arnaut Calimuendo it was a loan from PSG to which Lens gave the maturation in Ligue 1, and he currently plays as a starter in the wealthiest Rennes.
Important players whose departure has not caused problems for Lens. Indeed, the insights in the market and in the field of Haise and the company have increased the level of the team. Clauss was replaced by Polish Przemyslaw Frankowskimoved from the left wing to the right, where he is imposing himself as one of the best exteriors of the championship. In the median, Doucourè’s place was taken by the Ghanaian Salis Abdul Samedwithdrawn for just over 3 million per Clermontwhich he closely recreated with the former Udinese Seku Fofana that midfield backbone that had been one of the team’s strengths. Indeed, even improving it, given that Lens is the team that collects fewer goals of all in the league, with 25 goals conceded in 31 games. Obviously the defense has also been retouched, with the transfer of the Ghanaian Christopher Woo for 9 million. But even in this case the department hasn’t suffered any setbacks, given the performance of the Austrian’s central duo Kevin Distinguish and from Argentina facundo Medina.
Finally the attack. Lens are a solid team that concede little to their opponents without giving up playing football. It doesn’t score as much as the big ones, but it’s still the fifth best advanced department of Ligue 1. In the summer Lens bought the Belgian from Vitesse Openda Lawsfresh vice-top scorer in the Dutch championship, who has shown that he hasn’t suffered in the slightest from moving up to the championship, having already scored 15 gol (against 18 last season at Vitesse, his personal best), with two hat-tricks, one of which allowed him to break the Ligue 1 record for speed of completion. Last 12 March at the Clermont Openda he scored at 30, 34 and 35 minutes, using a total of 4 minutes and 30 seconds to score three goals. Four seconds less than the already remarkable previous record set in 2005 by Matt Moussilou of Lille against Istres. Already now Openda is a candidate as a potential record transfer in the history of Lens. Behind him, as an attacking midfielder-second striker, another player with a typical history made in Lens, the 32-year-old Florian undercuta few years ago slipped to the fourth division, today best assist-man of the team.