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Champions League: Ismaëlo Ganiou out of Lens’s trip to Club Brugge despite a simple knee bruise
Ganiou hurt his left knee in Saturday’s win at Troyes, and scans showed only a bruise. The Lens defender still misses Wednesday night’s game at Brugge, against the side that just won 4-3 at San Siro.
by Lucas Morel · 1 min read
The injury was born on Saturday night in Troyes, in a 3-1 win that left a mark. Ismaëlo Ganiou went for scans on Monday: a simple bruise on the left knee. Nothing broken, but the defender is out for matchday three of the Champions League, on Wednesday night at 9pm local time, 8pm UK, at the Jan Breydel Stadium.
A central pairing to rebuild
Without Ganiou, Yannick Cahuzac has to remake his central pairing. The route L’Équipe points to: Matthieu Udol, starting again at centre-back. Two days before a Champions League night, a new pairing means habits to rebuild: who jumps for the first ball, who holds the line, who covers the far post.
The side that just left San Siro
The calendar does no favours. Club Brugge won 4-3 at San Siro last week, Nicolò Tresoldi hat-trick included, after putting four past Monaco. “We take them very seriously,” Cahuzac warned. L’Équipe’s headline sets the scene: a weakened Lens defence against a Brugge attack on fire, a steep task.
A match classed as high risk
UEFA has classed the game as high risk, and the reason sits in the stands: a friendship between Brugge’s North Fanatics and Lille’s Dogues Virage Est. The 1,470 travelling Lens fans will make the trip by coach, as the protocol demands, with Belgian police on maximum alert.
Tonight, Lens’s rebuilt back line faces the attack that just won at Inter. On Saturday, Paris FC come to the Stade Bollaert-Delelis in Ligue 1: we will know then whether Ganiou’s knee has settled in time.