Lens-Rennes preview: Lift-off in 2022? | OneFootball

Both Lens and Rennes finished 2021 short of their best and will be looking to relaunch their bids for European qualification in the new calendar year.

LENS – RENNES (kick-off at 20:00 GMT on Saturday)

>> LIVE SCORING, STATS AND COMMENTARY

Lens won none of their last six league matches of 2021, collecting a mere three points in that run, to slide to ninth place in the table, six points back from the top three heading into Round 20. Franck Haise’s side did enjoy a massive lift on Tuesday evening, however, as captain Seko Fofana inspired Les Sang et Or back from 2-0 down at home to Lille as Lens set up a Coupe de France Round of 16 home clash with Monaco at the end of the month.

The inspirational Fofana scored both Lens goals, the second of them in the 95th-minute, and then Lens’ captain fantastic netted the winning spot-kick as Lens went through 4-3 on penalties. Outstanding in midfield all season, Fofana hopes the Coupe de France qualification will lead to more success.

Fofana: "So much pride"

Post-match Fofana told Eurosport: “There’s so much pride this evening. We had a bit of trouble finding each other initially, even if we had chances. We made a few errors and Lille managed to cause us harm. We knew we could get back into it and we got our reward. It’s diffiuclt for us in the league at the moment as we haven’t won since beating Troyes. But Patrick Berg has just joined us and we’ve got some players back from injury, and that gives us confidence. We saw some good things out there and that’s the mentality we need to have. It’s a good signal for what is to come.”

Under French government regulations, only 5,000 supporters were able to witness the remarkable comeback in the derby, but coach Franck Haise will expect more fervent backing from the Lens faithful on Saturday. Haise said: “The players, coaching staff and the fans were so happy after the derby. There were lots of emotions and the ones we take out of it are positive and that’s really good. It’s the magic of the Cup. The team tried everything, was always daring, took the initiative, and the fans got behind the team because the team gave a lot.”

Rennes have lost three of their last four league matches and fell to Ligue 2’s bottom club Nancy on penalties in the Round of 32 of the Coupe de France last weekend. Forward Serhou Guirassy failed to make the most of a rare start against the Lorraine club, missing a penalty in normal time, though Rennes were leading 1-0 when Guirassy was substituted.

Genesio said: “It’s normal to have doubts when you are a centre-forward, when you haven’t played for a while and then you miss a penalty. I’m not going to bury him because I know such things happen in a career, especially for forwards, and you need to get through them and overcome them. We’ll help him get through this phase.”

Probable Teams:

Lens: to follow)

Rennes: (to follow)

>> Statattack: Seko Fofana in full swing