Lens PSG was supposed to be a gentle way back into competitive football for the European champions. It finished 1-0 to Lens. Paris Saint-Germain lost the Trophée des Champions on Sunday night, and beIN Sports reported that Florian Thauvin scored the goal that settled it in a final Lens finished a man short.
How the Lens PSG upset unfolded
Arab News reported that Lens held on with ten men to win their first French Super Cup, while Goal reported that Nuno Mendes was shown a red card for misconduct. Chosun Ilbo reported that the defeat ends a four-year run of Super Cup wins for Paris. It is a jarring turn for a side that had beaten Aston Villa to lift the UEFA Super Cup only days ago, and for a head coach who had already played down the worth of a Super Cup in public.
Luis Enrique also went into the night without two forwards. Bradley Barcola and Ibrahim Mbaye were both left out of the squad as talks with Liverpool rumbled on, weeks after Paris held out for a combined €200m for the pair. Neither absence was ever likely to decide a final on its own, but a matchday squad two attackers light tells you where the club’s attention has been.
Achraf Hakimi did not take it quietly. Goal reported that the right-back criticised a lack of neutrality and said Paris had lost the Super Cup to circumstances outside their control. That is not the reaction of a dressing room that had written this off as a meaningless August fixture.
Les Parisiens have made a habit of answering nights like this one. The response needs to come quickly.
