The draw for the group stage of the Champions League took place this Thursday evening in Monaco. RC Lens will face PSV, Arsenal and Sevilla FC.
Orphan of Seko Fofana who left for Al-Nassr this summer, and of Loïs Openda, his most prolific scorer last season, transferred to RB Leizpig at the same time, RC Lens started this season in the worst possible way.
With two defeats conceded on August 13 and 26 against Brest and against Paris Saint-Germain, and a draw against Rennes on August 20, Franck Haise’s men, 15th in Ligue 1, are already playing the bottom of the table. A dynamic in the league which suggests a difficult 2023-24 European campaign for the Sang et Or, the first for 21 years.
Note that this is the last edition in the format of 32 teams. Indeed, from next season, the queen of European cups will welcome no less than 36 teams, which will be divided into four hats of nine teams, classified according to their UEFA indices, to then compete for the equivalent of a mini-championship. The first eight teams will qualify for the round of 16. And those ranked from 9th to 24th place will compete in play-offs to validate their qualification for the 8th. Conversely, clubs ranked after 24th place will be purely and simply eliminated.
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🇬🇧 Racing Club de Lens
🇪🇸 Sevilla FC
Arsenal FC
🇳🇱 PSV#UCLDraw #UCL pic.twitter.com/1vnx5ctyfJ— Racing Club de Lens (@RCLens) August 31, 2023
Lens avoids big
The Lensois inherited Sevilla FC, Arsenal, and PSV Eindhoven. Placed in Group B, Franck Haise’s men avoided the leaders of hat 1, namely Barça, Manchester City, Naples, and Bayern Munich. And those of hat 2, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Atlético Madrid, Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund. They will therefore compose with a group which, although affordable on paper, is not to be underestimated.
