After three victories in a row, RC Lens took a point on the pitch at Stade de Reims (1-1) on Sunday, and missed the opportunity to come back to within a point of OGC Nice, second in the standings.
The Sunday afternoon poster for Ligue 1 as part of the 22nd day offered a huge opposition between Stade de Reims and RC Lens. The two teams shared the points (1-1) although they could have snatched a valuable victory during an intense second half. The Northerners, who remained on three victories in a row, especially missed the opportunity to come back to within a small point of OGC Nice, second in the standings!
The SRFC found the fault at the end of the first period, Oumar Diakité taking a cross at the near post from Junya Ito (41st). But the Sang et Or equalized even before half-time thanks to Wesley Saïd (45th+1). Franck Haise had in fact changed his entire attacking trio three days after the draw against Friborg (0-0) in the Europa League: Adrien Thomasson and Angelo Fulgini played in support of the center forward, lacking success in the last gesture. Elie Wahi remained on the sidelines until the end.
Millot leaves Reims at 11!
The match could have changed in the 52nd minute during a horrible tackle by Joseph Okumu on Przemyslaw Frankowski, but Mr. Millot made a rather improbable decision: he was called by his video assistant to review the images and did not transformed the yellow card given to the Kenyan defender into red (52nd).
Will Still’s team then pushed on Brice Samba’s goal without managing to damage the French international goalkeeper. The offensive entrants in the second half (Keito Nakamura and Mohamed Daramy on the Champagne side, Morgan Guilavogui, Florian Sotoca and David Pereira Da Costa on the Artesian side) did not manage to make the difference at the end.
RC Lens is sixth, with Nice, Lille, Monaco and Brest ahead of it, before a shock against ASM in Bollaert! Stade de Reims is eighth in Ligue 1 after this fourth match without a win, with five points less than its opponent of the day.
