Lens have issued a strongly-worded statement regarding a potential postponement of their Ligue 1 fixture against Paris Saint-Germain on 11 April, which falls in between the latter’s two-legged Champions League quarter-final against Liverpool.
It was reported on Monday that PSG had asked for the game at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis to be rescheduled in order to gain additional rest in between their two European matches, following on from a very recent precedent.
They had been due to play a domestic fixture against Nantes earlier this month, but successfully lobbied for that to be change so as to maximise rest time between the two legs of their round-of-16 tie against Chelsea.
However, Lens have broken their silence on the matter with a strong statement in which they made no mistake of their opposition to moving the PSG game at the behest of their financially superior Ligue 1 title rivals.
The club used its official X channel to condemn the ‘troubling sentiment’ that their domestic league risks being ‘gradually relegated to the status of an adjustment variable at the whim of the European imperatives of some’.
They added that they shouldn’t feel compelled to ‘adapt to the demands of the most powerful, in the name of interests that, evidently, now extend beyond the domestic framework’, which they claimed has been ‘lightened’ by the reduction of Ligue 1 to 18 clubs and the discontinuation of the Coupe de la Ligue.
Lens’ statement concluded: ‘It is permissible to wonder when, on its own soil, the championship sometimes seems relegated behind other ambitions, however legitimate they may be. Racing Club de Lens remains committed to equity, the clarity of rules, and respect for all stakeholders. Simple principles, for a loyal and respected French football.’
Lens’ vocal opposition to PSG’s apparent request for the fixture on 11 April to be moved (following on from that of their head coach Pierre Sage) should be welcomed not just by Liverpool fans, but the wider football community.
If the Parisians had expected their title rivals to obligingly knuckle under and facilitate an extended rest period in between their two Champions League games against the Reds, they’re now realising that the club from northern France won’t be subservient to their every whim.
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On the surface, Sage’s side are rightly standing their ground on proceeding with the fixture as planned, rather than being coerced into a midweek rescheduling which’d leave them with a tight turnaround against the team they could still plausibly dethrone as Ligue 1 champions.
In a wider context, Lens are to be applauded for not bowing down to the wishes of a financially superior opponent, in an era when the haves often tend to get their own way to the detriment of the have-nots (the scrapping of FA Cup replays being a prime example).
As Champions League holders, PSG shouldn’t feel a need to seek marginal gains against a frighteningly inconsistent Liverpool side who’ll also have a vital domestic fixture in between the European tie.
The touchpaper has already been lit ahead of that quarter-final next month!
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Basically I look upon PSG’s request as cheating. The CL should not be run to enable them be better rested than the opposing clubs. Typical French though.
Whereas in England a very rich club has 130 charges against them, yet years later nothing happens.
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