Dominant in the first period, RC Lens scuttled after the break with a red card then a penalty, leaving Toulouse to take three points which allowed TFC to join the Northerners in 7th place. The end of a week to forget for the Sang et Or.
The truce was more than eventful for the RC Lens. The affair of the real-false transfer of Brice Samba caused a lot of ink to flow, to the point that the international goalkeeper was not in the group today. However, the Sang et Or had to take the three points against the Toulouse FC to stay attached to European places. But the visitors could join the Lensois with a victory here.
Hence a rhythmic start to the match, in which the Northerners took an initial lead in the game. A perfect first cross signed Anas Zaroury saw M’Bala Love spoil the finish (6th), a symbol nevertheless of the lack of precision of the Sang et Or. And when Nzola found the opening, Guillaume Remains came out too quickly to ward off the danger. Despite everything, the Lensois cornered their rivals in their camp, and we said to ourselves that the opener would eventually arrive.
And she almost arrived… for Toulouse, when Zakaria Aboukhlal presented himself alone in front Hervé Koffibut the fresh holder pulled out all the stops (16th), before doing the same on a restart of Joshua King point blank in the process. Lens responded with a nice shot from Przemyslaw Frankowski exit by Remains (22nd), so the match was extremely pleasant. Only the goals were missing.
But they didn’t arrive before the break. Yet, Aboukhlal et Nzola gave everyone of themselves and multiplied dangerous situations. But after 45 minutes, the score remained hopelessly goalless, and we hoped to avoid a 0-0. Will Still then launched David Pereira da Costa to force the opener, but the level of play had dropped after returning from the locker room.
To the dregs
The Lensois multiplied the centers without success, until a reflex recovery from Florian Sotoca well slammed by Remains (57th). But the day then turned sour for the Lensois when David Pereira da Costa was drying Djibril Sidibé and returned to the locker room early (61st). Tension then rose on the pitch and in the stands after a charge of Deiver Machado on the same Sidibesuggesting a bitter end to the meeting.
And in the 70th minute, the VAR came back to action to sanction too rough an intervention in the area. Malang Sarr on Zakaria Aboukhlalwho took justice into his own hands. The soup of grimaces for Lens, while the match rotted itself. Coffee then avoided the worst by releasing a four-star save on a point-blank strike from Yann Gboho (78th), leaving hope of saving at least one point.
And when Denis Genreau found the post of a subtle deviation (84th), Lens was on the edge of the precipice. History of drinking the chalice down to the dregs, John Chavez was released on a stretcher, raising fears of a serious injury. Despite a final scare, Toulouse finally wins 0-1a victory which puts the two teams tied with 24 points, three lengths from the Europe zone. Very good news for TFC, who made a perfect move and moved into the first half of the table, very bad news for Lens, who concluded a turbulent week with a deserved defeat. We’re going to have to pull ourselves together.
