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Four days after his stunning success against Lille in the Coupe de France (2-2, 4 tab to 3), Lens snatched the victory in extremis against Rennes again (1-0), Saturday January 8, 2022 during the 20th day of Ligue 1.
The RCL, which had not won for two months in the league (3 draws, 3 defeats), won thanks to a goal scored by the former Rennais Wesley Saïd at the very end of the game (89th).
In the pouring rain
The Blood and Gold, more dangerous than their evening opponents, found the loophole at the end of a fairly close match between two of L1’s best attacks.
They grab two places and temporarily go back to the 6th place in the ranking, with 30 points. A real rebound in the race for qualifying places for the European Cups.
Rennes, who remained on a stinging elimination on penalties in Nancy (L2) in the Coupe de France last weekend, chained a third defeat in a row in the league and stagnated in fourth place with 31 units on the clock, at a length of the third, Nice, which can take off if successful at Brest on Sunday (1:00 p.m.).
This meeting was less disturbed by the contaminations than several others during this 20th day of Ligue 1: Bordeaux played very diminished against OM while the Covid-19 caused the postponement of Lille-Lorient, Angers-Saint-Etienne and Montpellier-Troyes.
The match was played in pouring and uninterrupted rain, leading to a rather disappointing first period between two well-established and cautious teams. In search of confidence, the Bretons took very few risks against voluntary Lensois but not always very precise.
Rennes in bad luck
The Artesians, however, managed to create several chances but they did not succeed in defeating the vigilance of the young goalkeeper Dogan Alemdar.
Thus, the Turk repelled Arnaud Kalimuendo’s first attempt, a pivot shot (11th), before blocking the strike from the attacker loaned by Paris SG (42nd). Fofana, still very strong after a superb performance against Losc on Tuesday, saw Adrien Truffert narrowly deflect his powerful shot (30th).
The Rennais, who often made the wrong choices in the last thirty meters, hardly ever worried Jean-Louis Leca, except on a center of Gaëtan Laborde captured with difficulty by Corsica (33rd).
Lens king of the end of the match
After the break, the Bretons woke up a little and began to approach the Lensoise surface. A goal from Laborde was rightly refused for offside (59th), then Jérémy Doku, who had just entered the game, made a superb rush punctuated by a receding center pushed back by the Artesian defense (60th).
Less legs than in the first act, the Sang et Or struggled to get hold of a situation against the Rennes block. Corentin Jean, however, put Alemdar to work on a powerful long shot (78th).
But like Tuesday, January 4 against Losc, where they had returned to 2-2 in added time after being led 2-0 on the hour mark, the Lensois still made the difference in the “money-time”: after an overflow on the right side, Clauss has centered in the box and Saïd has taken back without control to offer victory to his own (1-0, 89e).
The Lensois could let their joy explode.
⏰ ????ℝ????????????????????????????ℕ????
Here is your Blood and Gold alarm clock ringtone ❤️????#RCLSRFC #StandingLesLensois pic.twitter.com/TpbfYzPUh2— Racing Club de Lens (@RCLens) January 9, 2022
Friday evening, Marseille had won (1-0) in Bordeaux, decimated by the cases of Covid, for the first time since 1977, thus regaining the place of dolphin of Paris SG with 36 points. The championship leader will close this 20th day on Sunday evening (8:45 p.m.) on the lawn of Lyon.
Source: © 2022 AFP
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