Also making the trip was Arnaud Kalimuendo. The teenager had great success on loan at Lens last season but returned to Paris Saint-Germain, only to see his pathway to the first team blocked by the signing of Lionel Messi, as well as Kylian Mbappé and Mauro Icardi, so he rejoined Lens on loan on deadline day. He was the sole change from the side that beat Lorient, replacing Ignatius Ganago in Lens’ usual 3-4-1-2 formation.
Vladimir Petkovic made three changes to the team that was thrashed by Nice, swapping out Enock Kwateng, Gideon Mensah and Issouf Sissokho for Jean Onana, Mexer and Timothée Pembélé as Bordeaux switched from a 3-5-2 to a 4-3-3 shape.
This change of shape didn’t really set Bordeaux up well to defend against Lens though, as Hwang Ui-jo and Rémi Oudin found themselves caught between two different defensive roles. If they stepped up to join Sékou Mara and pressure Lens’ back three, then Lens’ wing-backs went free, requiring Bordeaux’s full-backs to step out, leaving the backline three-versus-three against Lens’ attackers; if they instead followed Lens’ wing-backs, then Lens’ centre-backs had time and space on the ball to push forward and pick out passes into the attackers.
Either way Lens found themselves able to outnumber Bordeaux’s back four, with Jonathan Clauss and Przemyslaw Frankowski pushing forward down the flanks to join the two strikers and Gaël Kakuta in attack.
Bordeaux did have a lot of possession however. Sitting off in a 5-2-3 shape, Lens would block up the centre, but this left space out wide in the deeper areas. Otavio would drop back in line with the centre-backs to allow them to spread out and Bordeaux would pass out to Ricardo Mangas and Pembélé on the flanks. Pembélé showed at one point how this could be dangerous: when Bordeaux played out to the full-back, the Lens wing-back would come rushing out to close him down, at enough speed that it would be hard to turn. Pembélé received the ball, played a one-two inside, and ran into the space behind Frankowski, who was unable to turn quickly enough to follow him.
This was rare though. Usually the ball would go out to the full-back, the Lens wing-back would close him down, then the ball would go back to the centre-backs, and repeat. Bordeaux had a lot of the ball but little of their possession was threatening.
Lens took the lead shortly before half-time. Jean-Louis Leca kicked long to Florian Sotoca, who flicked the ball inside for Kalimuendo. He avoided Onana’s tackle and spread the ball wide to Frankowski, who crossed for Kakuta to head home. Mangas had been tracking Kakuta, only to leave him to back off towards the post – it was possible that he was wary of the run of Jonathan Clauss behind him, however, given he never checked over his shoulder, it seems likelier that he simply misread the flight of the ball, handing Kakuta the opportunity for a free header at goal.
Minutes later they doubled their lead, with Facundo Medina escaping from Fransérgio Barbosa to head home a corner.
Petkovic made a triple substitution at half-time, switching to a 3-4-2-1. Off came Oudin, Fransérgio and Mara, replaced by Stian Rode Gregersen, Yacine Adli and Javairô Dilrosun. This set-up lined up much better against Lens’ – the front three could deal with the back three, the wing-backs went against Lens’ and the back three dealt with the attacking trio.
After 15 minutes, Bordeaux managed to pull a goal back. With a series of quick passes down the right, Adli managed to whip in a cross. Mangas was marked by Clauss, however he moved inside to pick up Hwang as Kevin Danso went to head away the cross – Danso’s header merely diverted the ball to Mangas though, and the Portuguese controlled the ball and fired it past Leca before Clauss could get back out to him. Lens’ right-back had made what was ostensibly the correct choice, only for Bordeaux to score from it.
Lens continued to sit back in an attempt to protect their lead, switching to a 3-4-3 to give more width to the midfield defensively by bringing on David Costa for Kakuta and moving Sotoca out to the right.
Bordeaux equalised just before heading into injury time though. Laurent Koscielny hooked a throw-in into the box, with substitute Jimmy Briand holding off Jonathan Gradit to attempt an overhead kick. He missed but Onana was quickest to the loose ball, poking it into the net before any Lens defender could get to it.
Lens appeared to be once again dropping points from a winning performance, but there was a final twist. On his debut, substitute Wesley Saïd turned Gregersen on a pass from deep and ran in behind the Norwegian to shoot at goal, only for the recovering defender to block it with his hand. It was clearly unintentional, but that doesn’t matter according to the rules anymore, so Lens won a penalty that Sotoca duly converted.
It was Lens’ first victory at Bordeaux in 21 years, leaving les Girondins rock bottom. Gérard Lopez taking ownership of the club may have stopped them dropping into Ligue 2, however the off-field drama obviously hasn’t done them any favours on it.
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