With the exuberant Stade Bollaert-Delelis crowd making their voices heard, the on-pitch action was hotly contested from the very off and it didn’t take long for Thiago Mendes to give Florian Sotoca a piece of his mind. Despite the intent being shown, it took 24 minutes for the first notable chance and having risen above Nicolás Tagliafico, Kevin Danso was unable to get his header on target. Alexandre Lacazette had a strange start to the game and almost had a goal to reflect that as his deflected strike popped up into the air before landing on the crossbar.
Brice Samba’s simple long ball forward shortly after the half-hour mark provided David Pereira da Costa with an inviting opportunity, only for the winger to run past the ball and fail to connect with it. Les Sang et Or were still providing a brilliant intensity as was shown in a blistering counter led by Loïs Openda, but Anthony Lopes rushed out of his goal to sensationally deny Facundo Medina. The goalkeeper then denied efforts from Openda seconds before and after HT.
Both teams had opportunities to break forward shortly before the hour mark, but Tetê couldn’t control Rayan Cherki’s pass and Openda was once again denied by Lopes. When Sinaly Diomandé blocked another Openda effort, the ball dropped invitingly to Pereira da Costa who sent a wild effort off target. Lens kept pushing and came agonisingly close to opening the scoring as the game entered the final quarter-hour, with Jimmy Cabot hitting the post and Alexis Claude-Maurice being stopped by an instinctive Lopes save.
The hosts got their big break when Medina’s header was handled by Mendes, and Sotoca finally beat Lopes for his sixth of the season. Lens didn’t let off, ensuring that they opened a league campaign with five home victories having only ever previously done so in 1985/86. Meanwhile, Lyon have now lost four consecutive Ligue 1 games for the first time since March 1991.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Kevin Danso (RC Lens)
