Lens publishes forceful statement after PSG request ahead of Liverpool tie

Paris Saint-Germain wants one of its league games to be rearranged in order to give itself the best chance of getting past Liverpool in the last-16 of the Champions League

PSG boss Luis Enrique(Image: Getty Images)

Lens has expressed its dissatisfaction at the prospect of its Ligue 1 game against Paris Saint-Germain being moved in order to boost the French team's chances against Liverpool in the Champions League quarter-finals.

PSG is due to face Lens on April 11 – a game sandwiched between the two legs against Liverpool, which are scheduled for April 8 and April 14.

But PSG wants its French league game against Lens to be moved in order to give itself the best chance of progressing to the semi-finals.

Although such an arrangement is unheard of in English soccer, some European leagues are more open to rejigging their domestic schedules in order to give their clubs the biggest possible chance of European success.

PSG was due to play Nantes in between its last-16 legs against Chelsea earlier this month but that game was postponed – which clearly had the desired effect as PSG won the tie against Chelsea, 8-2 on aggregate.

For Lens, though, there is no benefit, and the club issued a statement on Monday night making it clear that it does not want the game against PSG to be rearranged.

"On March 6, the scheduling of the match pitting Racing Club de Lens against Paris Saint-Germain was finalized, formalizing a framework to which everyone was then invited to adhere," it said.

"In a spirit of responsibility and restraint, Racing Club de Lens, from the very first requests, made it known to Paris Saint-Germain its intention not to see this date changed.

"True to a certain idea of sporting stability, the club had also chosen to refrain from any public communication on this subject.

"However, the recent proliferation of statements, interventions, and various suggestions now leads us to break from this reserve.

"It does indeed appear to us that a troubling sentiment is taking hold: that of a French championship gradually relegated to the status of an adjustment variable at the whim of the European imperatives of some.

RC Lens' home stadium(Image: 2026 Eurasia Sport Images)

"A singular conception of sporting equity, the equivalent of which is hard to find in other major continental competitions.

"Changing the date of this match today would mean, for Racing Club de Lens, being deprived of competition for 15 days and then chaining matches every three days—a rhythm that corresponds neither to the one defined at the start of the championship, nor to the resources of a club that could absorb this type of new constraint without consequence.

"It would therefore be understood that the tenth budget in the championship should adapt to the demands of the most powerful, in the name of interests that, evidently, now extend beyond the domestic framework, which has already been lightened in recent seasons (L1 reduced to 18 clubs, discontinuation of the Coupe de la Ligue).

"Beyond this particular case, the question raised is more fundamental: that of the respect due to the competition itself.

"For it is permissible to wonder when, on its own soil, the championship sometimes seems relegated behind other ambitions, however legitimate they may be.

"Racing Club de Lens remains committed to equity, the clarity of rules, and respect for all stakeholders. Simple principles, for a loyal and respected French football."