T he Lens striker, Florian Sotoca, was completely motionless as he looked into the middle space from the bench. The game, finely poised at 2-1 with a few minutes remaining, was not beyond his side, but that is not the story his troubled face told.

Marseille had just restored their lead thanks to a goal from substitute Keyliane Abdallah. Bruno Génésio’s men would go on to take all three points and continue their unlikely charge up the table, but the atmosphere at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis was morose before Marseille had even stepped on the pitch. The match did little to lift the mood at the end of a week in which Lens made unwanted history.

A pre-match banner unfurled by Lens fans that called the players a “disgrace” had not even been put away when a miscommunication between Jonathan Gradit and Samson Baidoo gifted Marseille the lead after 82 seconds.…