Lens 1-0 PSG: ten men, one Thauvin goal, and a first Trophée des Champions

Lens won the Trophée des Champions with 31% of the ball, ten men for the last 51 minutes and two shots on target all night. One of them went in. Florian Thauvin, the captain, arrived at the far post on 32 minutes to convert Matthieu Udol's cross, and 38,223 people at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis spent the rest of the evening watching their team throw itself in front of everything Paris Saint-Germain could hit.

It is the first Trophée des Champions in Lens's history, in the first edition the club has reached since 1998 — when the opponent, as it happens, was also PSG. And it was won at home: the Ligue 1 champions play the Coupe de France winners, and this year the fixture was staged at the Coupe de France winners' own ground.

The goal, then the red card

The goal came against the run of play. Abdallah Sima found Udol on the left, the cross went over everyone, and Thauvin was alone at the back post. Seven minutes later the match changed shape again: Kyllian Antonio went in late on Maghnes Akliouche and was shown a straight red on 39 minutes. Lens, a goal up, had an hour to survive.

PSG almost levelled it before the break — Désiré Doué's effort from a tight angle came back off the bar in first-half stoppage time. Luis Enrique emptied the bench on the hour, sending on Ousmane Dembélé, Fabián Ruiz and Nuno Mendes at once. It bought territory and not much else. Robin Risser made six saves. Fabián Ruiz did put the ball in the net late on, and it was ruled out for a tight offside.

Then PSG went down to ten themselves: Nuno Mendes, on for barely half an hour, was sent off on 87 minutes for lashing out at Michał Skóraś. Ten against ten, one goal down, three minutes left — the trophy was already in Lens's half of the stadium.

Match facts

• 32' — Florian Thauvin (Lens), assisted by Matthieu Udol
• 39' — Kyllian Antonio (Lens) sent off, straight red, foul on Maghnes Akliouche
• 87' — Nuno Mendes (PSG) sent off, straight red
• Yellow cards: Doué 64', Fabián Ruiz 88', Hakimi 90' (PSG); Bulatović 90' (Lens)
• Man of the match: Florian Thauvin (Lens)
• Referee: Jérémie Pignard; VAR: Mathieu Vernice
• Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens — 20:45 CEST, attendance 38,223

The line-ups

Lens set up with Risser in goal behind Antonio, Ismaëlo Ganiou and Maik Nawrocki, with Saud Abdulhamid and Udol as wing-backs, Michaël Cuisance and Yacine Titraoui in the middle, Thauvin (captain) and Sima behind Franjo Ivanović. Dino Toppmöller — appointed in June, after Pierre Sage left for Crystal Palace — brought on Ruben Aguilar at half-time and then Andrija Bulatović, Skóraś, Rayan Fofana and Amadou Haidara.

PSG lined up with Matvey Safonov; Achraf Hakimi (captain), Illia Zabarnyi, Willian Pacho, Lucas Digne; Warren Zaïre-Emery, Vitinha, Lucas Beraldo; Akliouche, Doué and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. Bradley Barcola and Ibrahim Mbaye were absent amid links with Liverpool. Watching from the stands: Zinedine Zidane, newly installed as France head coach, with a long list of French internationals on the pitch in front of him.

Four days after Salzburg

PSG had lifted the UEFA Super Cup four days earlier, beating Aston Villa 2-1 in Salzburg. A second trophy inside a week would have been an unusually good August. Instead they ran into the oldest problem in football: a team with a lead, a spare centre-back's worth of bodies in the box, and nothing at all to lose. Sixteen of PSG's 22 shots never hit the target.

What it means

For Lens, a second trophy in the space of a few months — the Coupe de France is what got them here — and it arrived in Toppmöller's first competitive match in charge, at home, against the champions of France and Europe. For PSG, an early reminder that last season's dominance does not renew itself automatically. Their Ligue 1 title defence then started the same way: the opener against Rennes on 23 August was moved to Roazhon Park after the Parc des Princes pitch was ruled unplayable, PSG went 2-0 down and needed a Ferran Torres double off the bench to draw 2-2.