Paris Saint-Germain have been granted their wish of postponing their crucial Ligue 1 clash with second-place Lens to allow them more time to prepare for their Champions League quarter-final against Liverpool.
PSG’s trip to Lens, who sit just a point below them in the French top flight, was scheduled for Saturday 11 April – three days after their quarter-final first leg in Paris and three days before the second leg in Liverpool – meaning they faced the challenge of three potentially season-defining matches in less than a week.
They therefore made a request to France’s Ligue de Football Professionel (LFP) to move the league meeting, leading Lens to issue a forceful statement in response.
Insisting that fixture details were finalised and agreed upon on 6 March, Lens highlighted the “troubling sentiment” that is seeing the league “gradually relegated to the status of an adjustment variable at the whim of the European imperatives of some”.
The club also pointed out how a date change will not just greatly benefit PSG – by far the richest, most powerful in the division – but will also harm Lens, forcing their own fixtures to become congested.
But despite this vehement opposition, the LFP have chosen to postpone the clash in line with their goal of ensuring French clubs perform well in Europe.
“These decisions are in line with the board of directors clear strategic aim of enabling France to retain its fifth place in the Uefa coefficient rankings, which secures four places in the Uefa Champions League,” the LFP said in a statement.
The clash has been rescheduled to 13 May, the penultimate game of the Ligue 1 season.
Strasbourg’s visit to Brest, scheduled for Sunday 12 April, has also been moved to that same date to help them prepare for their Conference League last-eight clashes with Mainz.
PSG, the reigning European champions, similarly had a league match postponed for their Champions League last-16 tie with Chelsea, moving a game with Nantes that was scheduled for the weekend in between the two legs to help them prepare as effectively as possible. They went on to win that tie 8-2 on aggregate.
Lens responded to the postponement on Thursday evening with a statement: “While expressing its disagreement with the unanimous decision of the LFP Board of Directors to postpone the match against Paris Saint-Germain, RC Lens acknowledges it responsibly, reaffirms its determination to pursue its sporting objectives, and specifies that ticketing arrangements will be communicated individually by email to each supporter.”
