Lens start Champions with an ultra-young centre-back pairing

The RC Lens defence in Prague was built on youth, and L'Équipe underlines it with a key statistic from the Champions League.

In their visit to Slavia Prague, Lens lined up with Kyllian Antonio (18) and Souleymane Sagnan (21), both making their Champions League debut. L'Équipe handed each of them a 2 rating, pointing to how rough the step up to the top European level was in their first match.

Youth as the plan

The explanation, though, is that the trio also included Ismaëlo Ganiou (21), who was pre-selected for France by Zinédine Zidane. With the three together, Lens formed the youngest centre-back set of the competition’s first matchday, averaging 20 years and 186 days.

L'Équipe adds context by comparing it to Villarreal, which it says was the second-least experienced team in that specific area, with an average of 22 years and 89 days. The gap in experience was therefore significant.

Late win in Prague

On the scoreboard, Lens still got the result: they won 3-2 and did it in stoppage time. The headline takeaway remains the same—on a night when two of the central defenders were experiencing the Champions League for the first time, the team still found a way to come away with three points.