Lens opened their Champions League campaign with three points at Fortuna Arena after overturning a 2-1 deficit in the closing minutes.
The French side were still behind in the 88th minute, despite playing against 10 men for most of the second half, before Florian Thauvin and Ruben Aguilar struck in the 91st and 93rd minutes to complete a 3-2 win.
Slavia’s resistance made the result uncertain for much of the second half, but Lens’s sustained pressure eventually turned their numerical advantage into a decisive away win.
Lens turn the match around in stoppage time
A competitive first half finished goalless, though it was far from quiet. Slavia threatened through Štěpán Chaloupek, Samuel Isife, Oskar Kubiak and Michal Sadílek, while Thauvin and Matthieu Udol both tested the hosts at the other end.
The match changed almost immediately after the restart. Slavia sent on Konečný for David Zima at half-time, only to lose him in the 49th minute after he brought down Abdallah Sima. The referee went to the monitor before producing the red card, leaving the hosts to play on with 10 men.
That setback did not bring an instant collapse. Two minutes later, Šturm gave Slavia the lead with the best individual moment of the night up to that point, controlling the ball, shifting it onto his right foot and curling his finish into the far corner from Isife’s pass.
Lens had the extra player and increasingly the territorial control as well. Their pressure built through a series of corners and second-phase attacks before Sima levelled in the 73rd minute, turning the game back towards the visitors after Slavia failed to clear their box.
Even then, the match had another turn. Šturm struck again in the 88th minute to restore Slavia’s lead and seemed to have given the home crowd a defiant win to celebrate.
Instead, Lens found the response Slavia could not quite hold off. Thauvin headed in Mezian Soares’s cross in the first minute of second-half stoppage time, and Aguilar completed the turnaround two minutes later. Šturm still forced a save in the 96th minute as Slavia searched for another equaliser, but the late escape belonged to Lens.
Thauvin, Soares and Aguilar drive Lens’s late response
Lens did not control the match from start to finish, and Slavia’s two leads prevented any easy reading of the contest. What the visitors did manage after the red card was to keep the pressure constant enough for the game to tilt their way by the end.
The substitutions around the hour mark were central to that shift. Soares, Aguilar and Odsonne Édouard all arrived between the 61st and 62nd minutes, giving Lens fresh legs and more attacking presence just as Slavia were settling into a long defensive stretch.
Soares made the clearest creative contribution, supplying the cross for Thauvin’s 91st-minute equaliser. Aguilar, on for Michał Skóraś, then scored the winner in the 93rd minute. Those changes did not create the comeback on their own, but they sharpened it at exactly the point Lens needed more precision.
Thauvin had already been one of Lens’s most active attackers before his goal. He kept finding shooting positions, carried much of the visitors’ threat in open play and was still attacking the box late enough to turn Soares’s delivery into the equaliser.
The broader numbers matched the shape of the second half. Lens finished with 58% possession, 21 shots, nine corners and 1.56 expected goals, compared with Slavia’s 11 shots, six corners and 0.86 xG. Those figures do not erase how awkward Slavia remained, but they do explain why the late goals felt earned rather than random.
Šturm’s brace is not enough for 10-man Slavia
Šturm was the outstanding attacking figure for Slavia, giving the hosts a route to threaten Lens whenever space opened up despite their numerical disadvantage.
Both finishes mattered because Slavia spent so much of the second half without the ball. Playing with 10 men forced the hosts into long defensive phases, yet Šturm still gave them a route to hurt Lens whenever space opened up.
The final half-hour followed that pattern. Lens had the extra man, the corners and the shot volume, but Slavia retained enough threat to make the game unstable, with Šturm’s saved effort in the 96th minute underlining that they were never simply hanging on.
A crowd of 18,543 saw Slavia lead twice and still come away with nothing. The resistance was real, and Šturm’s contribution deserved more than a losing cause, but the numerical disadvantage eventually asked too much of the home side.
What comes next for Lens and Slavia Prague?
Lens sit ninth on three points after one match, while Slavia Prague are 22nd without a point. Both sides return to Champions League action on Tuesday 13 October at 17:45 BST, with Lens hosting Sporting CP and Slavia travelling to Sabah FK.
Lens will take confidence from the way they sustained pressure and found the goals late, even if the match also showed they can still leave room for an opponent to strike back. Turning territorial control into clearer authority earlier in games is the next step.
Slavia’s task is different. Recovering from a defeat like this will be difficult, but Šturm’s brace and the team’s long spell of 10-man resistance at least offered evidence that they can still trouble opponents in this competition if they avoid putting themselves under the same strain again.
