RC Lens Held in Check by Freiburg in Europa League Play-off First Leg

RC Lens was held in check by Friborg (0-0) at Bollaert on Thursday evening in this Europa League play-off first leg. Franck Haise’s men waited more than 60 minutes to add intensity to the match. They thought they would open the score from a corner, but Massadio Haïdara’s goal was refused for offside (70th). Kevin Danso saved his team twice. The qualification will be played next week in Germany.

In their last three Bundesliga matches, Freiburg have conceded three goals on average. Thursday evening, the team led by Christian Streich managed to keep a clean sheet against the very difficult Lensois. It is an understatement to say that the Artesians had the greatest difficulty in winning the game, and they can even consider themselves lucky to finish it back-to-back with the Breisgau-Brasilianer.

Samba and Danso in verve

The latter touched the amounts twice. Rolan Sallai, very leggy, lit the crossbar of Brice Samba (19th), who then repelled with a reflex gesture the Hungarian’s strike on his post (49th). And when it wasn’t the French goalkeeper who frustrated the Freiburgers, it was Kevin Danso who took over.

The Austrian’s miraculous save from a shot by Maximilian Eggestein kept RC Lens afloat (49th). He still had to work a few minutes later against Sallai to prevent him from taking a dangerous ball (81st). Warned during this match, the Austrian will miss the return match.

Bollaert frustrated by offside

The Sang et Or came close to correction, but they also tried a lot. If they missed narrowly in front of goal (23rd, 25th, 28th), as evidenced by the statistics at the final whistle (12 shots, 0 on target), they could still have opened the scoring and given another look to their sluggish performance.

Massadio Haïdara delivered the Bollaert stadium by victoriously taking a cross from Przemysław Frankowski in two stages (70th). Lens’ joy was, however, short-lived since the Pole was in an offside position when delivering his decisive pass.

Franck Haise and his men are still in the mix to qualify for the knockout stages of the Europa League. After the Stade de Reims which they will challenge on Sunday, they will go to Fribourg, determined to force the German lock during the return match, next Thursday, at the Europa-Park Stadion.

2024-02-16 00:40:00
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