Franck Haise, Lensois coach -

Lionel Urman / Sipa USA / SIPA

  • Nine years later, the Bollaert stadium will once again host a Ligue 1 match this Thursday.

  • Except that the poster between Lens and PSG has lost its flavor with the health crisis.

  • Limited to 5,000 spectators, the public will not push their team as usual against a PSG deprived of its stars affected by the Covid.

When the calendar fell in mid-June when the deconfinement was going pretty well, everyone was already looking forward to the poster.

For his comeback in Ligue 1, RC Lens would challenge PSG in their first home match.

Nine years after the last L1 poster at Bollaert, the stadium being under construction during the last season played by the club in the elite (2014/2015), this gala match had something to salivate.

Except that nothing went as planned.

For this big comeback, Bollaert, which should have been full in normal times, will only be filled with 5,000 spectators (out of 38,223 possible), anti-Covid measures oblige.

“We are all delighted to find Bollaert, to find the competition.

5,000 spectators is better than playing behind closed doors as we did in Nice on the first day.

But it changes the mood anyway.

The pushes of the public will be less strong.

And having surges from the public can lead to surpassing oneself ”, regrets Franck Haise, the coach of RC Lens.

Same spite with Jean-Louis Leca.

“I was expecting something else, a full, molten Bollaert.

But hey, that's how it is, “cowardly the Lensois goalkeeper.

A workforce of PSG decimated by the Covid

Even if the context will perhaps benefit the Lensois club.

Originally scheduled for August 29, the match was postponed at the last moment to September 10 at the request of an exhausted PSG after its Champions League final.

In the meantime, the Parisian players have gone on vacation and seven of them returned with the Covid.

Suddenly, it is without Neymar, Di Maria, Mbappé, Navas, Paredes, Marquinhos and Icardi that Paris will face Lens.

Fewer stars and perhaps more chances to surprise Racing.

“We are not favorites.

It's the PSG in front of us.

There are still a lot of good people at PSG ”, calm Franck Haise.

PSG's attack against Lens: pic.twitter.com/7BCLoxM804

- Winamax Sport (@WinamaxSport) September 7, 2020

No fire either at Jean-Louis Leca who is based on his experience.

“When we beat Paris with Bastia (4-2 in 2015), there was Zlatan, Cavani, Verratti.

And the year before, we had taken 3 or 4 (0-3 in 2014) against their B team. The PSG B team can start anywhere in France.

This group is one of the five, six best in the world ”, assures the Artesian porter.

Promoted in Ligue 1, Lens can not afford to look down on the recent finalist of the Champions League.

Even if the context necessarily changes things.

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