At the first professional goal of the young David Pereira Da Costa, also passer, the Canaries responded with a double from Randal Kolo Muani and a masterpiece from Moses Simon.

Antoine Kombouaré had assured him: the Lensois "are a cut above".

They showed it by suffocating the Nantes and by scoring on their first two strikes ... before disappearing in the second half.

Deprived of several executives on Friday, such as Gaël Kakuta (affected in the calf) or Jonathan Clauss (suspended), Franck Haise's men continue to skate: three draws and two defeats since the 4-0 slap suffered in November in Brest.

The trip to Nice in 10 days will be crucial ...

Nantes, on the other hand, has a second victory in a row and provisionally finds the first part of the table (10th, 25 points).

Supported by a full and enthusiastic visitor park, the Sang et Or quickly took the advantage after a strike from Massadio Haïdara repulsed by Alban Lafont: Pereira Da Costa, who arrived from the penalty spot, left the keeper no chance Nantes (0-1, 7th).

A few minutes later, the young attacking midfielder threw Arnaud Kalimuendo behind a busier defense to demand stoppage of play because Andrei Girotto was down.

The international Espoirs hooked Lafont and slipped the ball into the goal (0-2, 15th).

Full of ambitions but far too messy, the Nantes people waited for the second half to react while Jean-Louis Leca, hit in the foot, had left his gloves to Wuilker Farinez.

The Canaries take off in the second half

The young Venezuelan goalkeeper was probably on the path of Ludovic Blas' powerful strike, but so was Kolo Muani: the deviation of the shoulder of the young Nantes striker was validated by the VAR after a long examination (1-2, 48th).

Nantes playmaker Ludovic Blas releases a shot deflected by Randal Kolo Muani for the reduction of the score against Lens, December 10, 2021 at Beaujoire Sebastien SALOM-GOMIS AFP

No dispute, however, when Willem Geubbels, launched in the back of the Lensoise defense, entered the area and ideally served Kolo Muani, who only had to push the ball into the goal (2-2, 56th) .

The following minutes were marked by a lot of nervousness on both sides and the start of a general fight, but the game took over and Farinez caught up with a reflex save on a point blank shot from Blas (65th ).

On the other hand, he could not do anything when Moses Simon, served by Quentin Merlin, played with several defenders to enter the area and shoot a right strike in the top corner (3-2, 90th).

© 2021 AFP