We expected a tactical battle, between two coaches who know each other well and who even worked together during the 2021-2022 season at Standard de Liège. This took place, and worked to the advantage of the former deputy, Will Still. Thanks to goals from Adrien Thomasson and M’Bala Nzola, his Lensois took over Stade de Reims, his former club, now coached by Luka Elsner.
Despite everything, the Sang et Or suffered. More solid in the duels, they got the first chances, without creating a huge danger. Receiving a ball poorly cleared by the Reims defense, Adrien Thomasson still opened the scoring with a beautiful sequence of chest control and right foot strike, which ended up in Yehvann Diouf’s small net .
The people of Rémois tried to respond immediately. Keito Nakamura, Teddy Teuma and Junya Ito notably tried their luck, but came up against either the Lensois defenders or Brice Samba. The second period for Luka Elsner’s men was significantly poorer, with a lot of Lens domination. M’Bala Nzola, however, was imprecise, despite two face-to-face encounters with the goalkeeper. The Angolan international finally scored in the 61st minute to relieve his supporters, who came in large numbers.
Despite the three changes made a few minutes later, Stade de Reims never seemed able to get back into the game. On a dazzling counter-attack, Junya Ito could, or should, have reduced the score, but his shot was far too weak to deceive the Lens goalkeeper. The last quarter of an hour was very dull.
Thanks to this success, only the second in five matches, the Sang et Or temporarily regained European places (6th) and knocked their evening opponents down to 9th place. However, this is only the first match of this 13th day of Ligue 1, and the ranking must still evolve.
