Racing Club de Lens lost heavily against Arsenal this Wednesday at the Emirates Stadium (0-6). The Champions League adventure comes to an abrupt end for the Sang et Or, who will play for their place in the Europa League against Sevilla in two weeks.
At the end of autumn, theThe people of Lens will be able to look at themselves in the mirror. When they were invited into the big world at the end of a fantastic season, they knew what awaited them, for better and for worse. It was all about emotions. Not without ambition, but without pretension. The best happened during one evening, less than two months ago, in Bollart, against the scarecrow of the group. The worst happened against this same ogre, in the trap of a large European arena, where the storm fell on them to overturn everything.
Lens will therefore leave this Champions League after PSV’s victory in Seville a little earlier in the evening (3-2), but the European campaign will remain a success. This evening, the Lensois were certain that the Gunners would not take the match over their head like last October. The challenge was to establish a perfect plan to once again surprise a superior opponent – and moreover away from home, just to awaken memories of a magical evening at Wembley, more than two decades ago. But the Lensois came back to reality.
Lens exploded
Against such a well-oiled machine, the French vice-champions did not have the necessary ingredients to resist Arsenal’s strike force. Unsurprisingly, the London team took control of the game quickly, but their possession of the ball, less overwhelming than usual, materialized in brutal changes of pace which created a hurricane on Samba’s goal .
From then on, all the triggers joined the party. Havertz, although far from being sovereign since his arrival, resolved the situation before the quarter of an hour of play (1-0, 13th). The Gunners then scored three times in less than ten minutes, by Gabriel Jesus on a classy technical sequence (2-0, 23rd), Saka on a throw of the dice (3-0, 23rd) then Matinelli on a solo rush magnificent (4-0, 27th). A hellish first act ended with a sublime school action leading to a 5th goal from Odegaard (5-0, 45th+1).
For Arteta’s gang, the carrot was nice. Although Arsenal’s qualification for the eighth was in no doubt, the London club had the opportunity to definitively seal the deal by securing first place in the group if successful. In this configuration, the second period was less annoying.
The Lensois tried to place a few banderillas to get out of the water, but in this ordeal, nothing succeeded. In the end, Arsenal completed their victory with one last pawn, on a penalty converted by Jorginho, happier at club this exercise than with the Nazionale (6-0, 86th). The people of Lens paid to learn for the sake of learning. This is also the law of the very highest level. They are going to leave the big world. But they’ll use it, perhaps, if they invite themselves to another party, downstairs, next spring.
