Lens stuns PSG 1-0 to end four-year Trophée des champions reign

RC Lens upset Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 on Sunday evening at Bollaert stadium, ending PSG’s four consecutive titles at the Trophée des champions. A single goal from Florian Thauvin, scored shortly after the half-hour mark, was enough for the Sang et Or to lift the trophy.

The match turned in the 39th minute with the expulsion of Antonio on the Lens side, reducing the hosts to ten men. Despite this numerical disadvantage, Lens held firm until the final whistle. PSG’s Nuno Mendes was also sent off in the 87th minute, though it did not change the course of the match.

At the final whistle, Achraf Hakimi did not mince words. “This is not an excuse,” clarified the Moroccan left-back before pointing to the organizational conditions. “We did everything to win, we controlled the entire match. Coming here, playing on a pitch that isn’t neutral, without our supporters… We should have played under the same conditions as Lens.”

Hakimi emphasized the imbalance felt: “We’ve already played many finals on neutral pitches, with half the stadium filled with our supporters and the other half with opposing supporters. Today, it looked more like a Ligue 1 match, since we were playing away. If we want to continue to grow our championship, these are things we need to try to look at.”

The controversy goes beyond the result alone. The Collectif Ultras Paris had chosen to boycott the event, contesting the Ligue de Football Professionnel’s decision to organize the match at Bollaert without balancing ticket distribution between the two supporter camps.

It is not without irony that PSG itself won the 2023 Trophée des champions at Parc des Princes against Toulouse FC — an edition relocated from Bangkok due to a last-minute cancellation, in which Hakimi was a starter. This time, it was Paris that suffered from home advantage.