RC Lens release official statement on PSG postponement request
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Image Credits: Imago Images Racing Club de Lens have officially hit back at Paris Saint‑Germain’s bid to move their Ligue 1 clash, issuing a strongly worded statement that slams the champions’ attempt to reframe the domestic calendar around their Champions League date with Liverpool. Lens also underline that they communicated to PSG from the outset that they did not wish the date to be altered: “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,” the statement read.
“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. 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.” Lens also add that PSG are a team of considerable more resources than them, and that the Ligue 1 championship seems be second behind other teams’ ambitions: “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).
Racing Club de Lens remains committed to equity, the clarity of rules, and respect for all stakeholders. Communiqué du Racing Club de Lens Le 6 mars dernier, la programmation de la rencontre opposant le Racing Club de Lens au Paris Saint-Germain a été arrêtée, officialisant un cadre auquel chacun était alors convié à se conformer.