Loïs Openda brings excitement back to the French league with goal and assist for Lens against PSG | Foreign football

After Benfica (after 28 games under Roger Schmidt) PSG has lost its unbeaten status for this season (after 23 games under Christophe Galtier). Olympique Marseille and AS Monaco are already eleven points behind PSG, which means that Lens seems to be the only challenger this season in a possible French title race with the dominant PSG. The Parisian club has won 24 of the last 31 prizes in France, but is still waiting for the main prize in the Champions League. This season, Bayern Munich is waiting in the eighth finals on February 14 and March 8.

Racing Club de Lens became champion of Ligue 1 in 1998, but in this century the sporting decline quickly set in at the club from the north of France. From 2008 to 2020, the club played in France’s second tier in nine of its twelve seasons. Since promotion in the first corona year, Lens has already finished seventh in Ligue 1 in the past two seasons, but this season seems Les Sang et Or (The Blood and Gold) intends to compete for the title.

PSG had to do without star players Lionel Messi (still in Rosario) and Neymar, who was suspended after his red card after his schwalbe against Strasbourg (2-1) last Wednesday at the Parc des Princes. Kylian Mbappé then made the winning goal. The French hat-trick hero from the World Cup final had to do it tonight with Hugo Ekitiké and Carlos Soler at his side. It was Ekitiké who made it 1-1 in the eighth minute, after Przemysław Frankowski had given the club from the mining town the lead three minutes earlier.

Then it was Loïs Openda’s turn. The 22-year-old attacker from Liège has been rented out by Club Brugge to Vitesse for the past two seasons, where the lightning-fast Belgian scored 37 times in 88 games. Club Brugge decided not to bring him back, but sold Openda to Lens for 9.8 million euros last summer. There he now has nine goals in 18 games. After good work from Seko Fofana, Openda made it 2-1 after 28 minutes. With a nice heel ball on Alexis Claude-Maurice, Openda also gave Lens his first assist in the 47th minute.

It remained with that 3-1 in Stade Bollaert-Delelis, where PSG even had to bring in 16-year-old Warren Zaire-Emery in pursuit of the connection goal. PSG will play the next match on Friday evening, in the cup at LB Châteauroux of the third French level. Lionel Messi will return to Paris in the course of the week, where PSG will resume the competition on Wednesday, January 11 against last-placed SCO Angers.