Despite a long sluggish match, Lens achieved its objective on Tuesday at home by beating Sevilla FC (2-1) on the last day of the Champions League: to reach the play-offs for accession to the Europa League. Thanks to this victory, the Sang et Or (eight points) finished third in group B, ultimately dominated by Arsenal (thirteen points), who drew in Eindhoven against PSV (second, nine points), while Sevilla FC finishes last (two points).
A draw would have been enough for the Artesian club to achieve its evening objective, well summed up by this banner displayed at the bottom of the gigantic Lensois tifo: “All together, let’s go for a European spring.” Lens will know their opponent for this accession play-off on December 18. Before kick-off, Sevilla FC had won their first match. This time against the prefecture of Pas-de-Calais and the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, by obtaining from the Council of State the suspension of the decree prohibiting the movement of its supporters to the Stade Bollaert. This decision was taken in a context of tensions in and around football stadiums, in particular after the death of a Nantes supporter on December 2 before a Ligue 1 match between FC Nantes and Nice.
“Freedom for supporters”
In the stands, this victory was especially celebrated by the Lensois supporters, who brandished banners of solidarity including “Apoyo a los aficionados de Sevilla” (support for Seville supporters), “Freedom for the supporters”, and even “Darmanin , prefects: gold medals for incompetence at the 2024 Olympics”. While some 300 were expected, the Sevillian supporters were only a few dozen in the stands and did not manage to make themselves heard. But that did not prevent the Andalusian club from dominating the first period. Diego Alonso’s players had both control of the game and the number of chances for them during the first act against the apathetic Lensois, as if paralyzed by the challenge.
The inevitable Sergio Ramos lit the first fuse with a header that went wide after a corner (5th). Symbol of their excitement, the Artois players conceded, a rare occurrence, an indirect free kick in their penalty area when Brice Samba caught the ball kicked in by Kevin Danso (7th) in his gloves. Without consequence. The Lensois captain had to work to deflect a half-volley from Ivan Rakitic on the edge of the penalty area, at the conclusion of yet another sequence of Sevillian possession (29th).
We had to wait until the 36th minute of play to see Franck Haise’s players exchange a few successive passes… At half-time, almost all the statistics were in favor of the Sevillians: 63% ball possession, six shots to one (two on target to zero), 36 attacks to six, seven corners to zero.
Medina in all its forms
But the score was still goalless at the intermission, and the Sang et Or finally entered their match in the second period, finally showing aggression, defensive pressure and precision. In the wake of a clear opportunity in favor of Seville (57th), the club from the mining area even managed to open the scoring with a very well struck penalty from Przemyslaw Frankowski (63rd), after a foul called against the Frenchman Boubakary Soumaré, guilty according to the referee of having unbalanced Facundo Medina. First in the light, the Argentinian caught the shadows a little later, when he held the arm of Youssef En-Nesyri, in turn causing a penalty.
Brice Samba first made a classy double save against Sergio Ramos, then had to bow when the tireless defender tried his luck again, the referee considering that the Lensois captain had advanced. With a superb panenka garnished with a bonus provocation for the attention of the Lensois supporters, hand on ear, Sergio Ramos restarted the match. But Angelo Fulgini ended the suspense by giving victory to his club on a counter-attack at the very end of the match (90th + 6), making Bollaert roar with happiness, who will perhaps be entitled to his European spring.